.Summary statistics of key firm characteristics for the 266 firms in the matched sample. TotalAssets is the book value of total assets; MV/BV is the market-to-book ratio; Profitability is the operating income before depreciation and scaled by total assets; Tangibility is firms’ net property, plant, and equipment scaled by the total assets; Leverage is the book value of debt scaled by total assets; Cash is the cash and cash equivalents scaled by total assets; Long-Term DebtIss is firms’ issuance of long-term debt scaled by total assets; Net Long-Term DebtIss is firms’ issuance of long-term debt net of change in cash and cash equivalents scaled by total assets; EquityIss is firms’ equity issuance scaled by lagged total assets; CapEx is firms’ capital expenditure, which is calculated as the change in firms’ property, plant, and equipment plus depreciation and scaled by lagged total assets; CashAccumulation is defined as the change in firms’ cash and cash equivalents and scaled by lagged total assets; and AssetGrowth is calculated as the change in firm’s book value of total assets and scaled by lagged total assets. Time t is the time of the rating refinement. All accounting variables are yearly results calculated based on quarterlyCompustat data.