Operational Quality Ratings
The Old York Protocol for Forensic Enterprise Validation
Operational Quality Ratings are forensic, principal-led assessments of a firm’s structural ability to generate Owner Earnings independent of GAAP accounting distortions. Unlike traditional credit ratings, the Old York Protocol measures the clinical durability of a corporate shell and its capital allocation efficiency.
How can we help?
We provide organizations with a comprehensive perspective of the global debt markets through our global credit ratings and in-depth research.
01 Establish operational distinction
Our public rating service provides a high-visibility framework for organizations seeking to demonstrate operational
excellence. By subjecting the enterprise to an independent, clinical evaluation, firms can establish a clear benchmark of quality for their stakeholders.
02 Internal resilience & risk mitigation
We utilize the proprietary Old York Protocol to identify structural inefficiencies and hidden operational risks. Our forensic
approach helps Principals shore up the "internal engine," ensuring the business is optimized to weather macro-economic volatility.
03 Capital efficiency & growth path
By benchmarking against the global gold standard, our audits provide a technical roadmap for enhancing Internal Rates of
Return (IRR) and Return on Invested Capital (ROIC). We assist organizations in transitioning from a (B) to a (AAA) operational standard through disciplined
capital allocation and engineering.
Evolving Operational Quality
Value is evolving as global business models become more capital-intensive and opaque. Old York Financial provides forensic clarity and principal-led strategy to the emerging shifts shaping enterprise value.
Explore our core pillars of the Old York Protocol:
Forensic Risk & Audit: Moving beyond standard compliance to identify hidden structural vulnerabilities.
AI, Data & Predictive Analytics: Leveraging advanced modeling to forecast unit economics and market shifts.
Owner Earnings & FCC: Calculating the true cash available to owners, stripped of accounting gimmicks.
Enterprise Durability & Structure: Analyzing the long-term "moat" and the integrity of the corporate shell.
Capital Efficiency & ROIC: Evaluating how effectively every dollar of retained earnings is being deployed.
Products
Public Ratings
The Forensic Lens on Market Leaders
Our public advisory protocol bridges the gap between GAAP reporting and economic reality. We apply the Old York Protocol to public entities to provide a principal-level evaluation of enterprise durability, ensuring that "paper profits" align with actual owner earnings.
- Owner Earnings & FCC: We look past Net Income to calculate Maintenance Capex and Free Cash Flow to the Capitalist (FCC), identifying the true surplus available for distribution or reinvestment.
- Moat Durability Index: A rigorous audit of competitive advantages to determine if a company's ROIC is sustainable or merely a byproduct of a temporary market cycle.
- Capital Allocation Audit: Evaluation of management’s track record of retaining earnings versus returning capital, viewed through the lens of a long-term principal.
Private Ratings
Principal-Level Diligence for Private Capital
Designed for closely-held firms and private equity acquisitions, our Private Ratings provide the transparency often shielded by opaque corporate structures. We operate as your senior partner to validate structural integrity before capital is committed.
- Operational Quality Forensics: We go beyond the books to audit the "plumbing" of the business including unit economics, customer concentration risks, and supply chain fragility.
- Structural Integrity: Detailed analysis of the corporate shell and legal/operational alignment to ensure the asset is as durable as the pitch deck claims.
- Principal Alignment: Our methodology is born from our own principal investments; we advise with the same rigor we use when our own capital is at risk.
Undisclosed Ratings
Internal Mandates & High-Conviction Intelligence
Undisclosed ratings are our most sensitive forensic work. These are internal, high-conviction assessments held exclusively for our principal-led mandates and the LPs within our Buffett-style structures.
- Proprietary Risk Modeling: Leveraging AI and predictive analytics to forecast shifts in industry tailwinds and enterprise decay before they manifest in public filings.
- Counter-Party Forensics: Confidential deep-dives into the stability and "true" leverage of partners, competitors, or acquisition targets.
- Strategic Moat Expansion: Identification of undervalued "durability" traits that the broader market has mispriced, providing a distinct edge for long-term capital deployment.
Understanding operational quality ratings
As global corporate structures have become increasingly opaque and interconnected, principals face an extensive and often bewildering selection of capital allocation opportunities.
Learn how the Old York Protocol speaks to the relative operational quality and enterprise durability of assets and corporate structures across industries and jurisdictions.
Understanding operational quality ratings
Our rating protocol communicates forward-looking, principal-led assessments of how enterprise structures and operational assets will perform over time.
Operational quality scale
Operational quality ratings reflect forward-looking, principal-led assessments of the structural durability and cash-flow integrity of enterprise assets.
Rating process
The timeline of our protocol depends on the depth of the corporate structure, the transparency of the operational plumbing, and the complexity of the enterprise shell.
Industry
- Aerospace & Defense
- Analytics
- Apparel
- Bank
- Beverages
- Car Manufacturing
- Chemicals
- Communication Services
- Consumer Defensive
- Consumer Discretionary
- Data
- Energy
- Entertainment
- Exchanges
- Farm & Heavy Construction Machinery
- Financial
- Hardware
- Healthcare
- Holding Company
- Home Improvement
- Indexes
- Industrial
- Information Technology
- Insurance
- Investment Banking
- Logistics
- Luxury
- Market Infrastructure
- Materials
- Oil & Gas
- Payment
- Personal Care & Beauty
- Pharmaceuticals
- Railroad
- Ratings
- Restaurants
- Retail
- Semi-Conductors
- Software
- Technology
- Telecommunications
- Utilities
- Waste Management
- Wealth Management
- Wireless & Broadband
Connor von Schröder
Principal | Managing Partner | Chairman
"Old York Financial is a boutique merchant house built on the 200-year legacy of von Schröder merchant banking. We carry forward the ancestral model of principal-led advisory and co-investment."
