Rating Scale - Alpha Documentation

Alpha Governance Scale

Public Profiles do not display public letter grades. The scale below applies to Assessed Ratings, committee-reviewed internal grading, and any context where Alpha is explicitly issuing a full AGR grade.

Grade	Tier	Composite Score	Description
AAA	Leaders	93.0-100.0	Governance is demonstrably market-leading, stress-tested, and hard to game.
AA	Leaders	85.0-92.99	Governance is comprehensive, well evidenced, and consistently effective.
A	Governance-Ready	77.0-84.99	Governance is strong, but not yet leader-level across the full framework.
BBB	Governance-Ready	70.0-76.99	Governance meets an institutional baseline with visible gaps still to close.
BB	Developing	62.0-69.99	Governance architecture exists, but execution and proof remain uneven.
B	Developing	54.0-61.99	Basic governance is present, but important controls are weak, partial, or unproven.
CCC	Laggards	46.0-53.99	Governance is reactive and materially incomplete.
CC	Laggards	35.0-45.99	Governance is very weak, with significant exposure across core dimensions.
C	Laggards	25.0-34.99	Governance exists mostly in name only.
D	Disqualified	0.0-24.99	Governance failure, severe deficiency, or disqualifying concern.
NR	Not Rated	-	Coverage not initiated, insufficient evidence, rating withdrawn/suspended, entity request, or conflict of interest.

Display Format

Ratings are displayed with trajectory and, where available, the Governance Event Horizon:

AGR: B / GEH: 67% (+/-12pp, 90% CI)

Tier Colors

Tier	Grades	Color
Leaders	AAA, AA	Science Blue `#0066CC`
Governance-Ready	A, BBB	Mint `#1A9E76`
Developing	BB, B	Bronze `#B8793F`
Laggards	CCC, CC, C	Red `#C43545`
Disqualified	D	Red `#C43545`
Not Rated	NR	Silver `#818181`

Trajectory

Every rated company receives a trajectory indicator reflecting the direction of governance posture over the most recent assessment period:

Trajectory	Meaning
Advancing	Governance posture is improving. Evidence of new controls, stronger oversight, or resolved gaps.
Stable	Governance posture is consistent. No material change in either direction.
Declining	Governance posture is weakening. New risks emerging, controls degrading, or oversight gaps widening.

Watch Status

A watch flag signals that a rating is under review due to a material event:

Status	Trigger
Positive Watch	Evidence suggests an upcoming upgrade (new governance initiative, regulatory achievement, leadership appointment).
Negative Watch	Evidence suggests a potential downgrade (incident, regulatory action, leadership departure, disclosure gap).
None	No material events pending.

Floors and Ceilings

A critical failure can cap the overall grade regardless of composite score. The current methodology applies the following hard constraints:

Any applicable D1-D10 dimension below 30/100: grade capped at D
Any applicable D1-D10 dimension at 30-39/100: grade capped at CC
Any applicable D1-D10 dimension at 40-49/100: grade capped at B
D1 (Leadership) below 50/100: grade capped at A
D8 (Regulatory) below 40/100: grade capped at BBB
For Assessed Ratings, D12 (Corrigibility) at 0: grade capped at B, and D12 below 20/100: grade capped at BB
Concern screen results can also cap the grade independently: one Elevated concern caps at A, two Elevated concerns cap at BB, one Severe caps at CCC, and one Disqualifying concern caps at D

This ensures that a company cannot achieve a high overall rating while carrying a critical governance blind spot. The full scoring logic is documented in the Scoring Rubric.

​Alpha Governance Scale

​Display Format

​Tier Colors

​Trajectory

​Watch Status

​Floors and Ceilings