Viewing Frequently Asked Questions Help

General FAQ

Methodology FAQ

General FAQ

Using Country-Check: How do I get started quickly?
A good way to begin using Country-Check is to go through the Quick Start module. It contains simple Flash-based Usage Tutorials that will guide you through the fundamental steps of using the system effectively. In addition, a Methodology module is available for users who wish to obtain more information about the back-end ranking system.

How often are Sources updated?
Sources are updated as soon as they are updated on the site of origin. Country-Check adopts tracking software that flags any updates or changes to the original source data found online.

Where can I obtain online help?
Help may be obtained on the top right-hand corner of every module. Should you be unclear about how to proceed, simply click on the Help Logo [?]. A Help Dashboard will appear to provide you with answers to frequently encountered questions and area-specific usage tips that will help you get the most out of the system.

How can I contact Country-Check or provide user feedback?
Click on the Contact Us link (situated on the far right of the horizontal navigation bar found at the top of every page). This will bring you to a page featuring a form with empty fields. Enter your query or comments into the feedback field, and submit your contact details so that we can respond to your query as soon as possible. Email is the primary medium for user correspondence.

Can I suggest alternative sources to be included in Country-Check?
Certainly. Users can suggest potential data sources that they feel would be beneficial as a Country-Check Source. Please submit your recommendation, including source details such as the website URL (e.g. www.suggestedDataSource.com) via the Contact Us section.

How many Custom Weight Sets can I define and save?
There is no limit to the number of weight sets registered users can define and save, provided they are logged in to the Country-Check system.

Why should I use the “Recommended World-Check Default Weight Set”?
The “Recommended World-Check Default Weight Set”, has been rigorously tested and scrutinised by some of World-Check’s leading researchers. The set of Weights that is associated with the various parameters have been carefully selected to correctly associate every parameter’s importance to the definition of overall risk.

Even if you decide not to use the highly recommended Default Weight Set, it is nonetheless a very good point of departure for any user who wishes to tweak the system’s weight settings to fit their own risk perceptions.

Can I delete previously saved customised Weights Sets?
You can, by clicking on the User Profile link, situated on the right-hand side of the horizontal navigational bar at the top of the page. Please note that you have to be logged in to access the User Profile module.

I´ve forgotten my password. How do I retrieve it?
Simply click on the Forgot your Password? link situated just below the Log In/Log Out button at the top right-hand side of every page, just above the horizontal navigational bar.Fill in the required information, and click the “Retrieve my password” button.

Who should be using Country-Check?
Governmental intelligence agencies, regulatory entities, financial intelligence units (FIUs) and cross-border law enforcement agencies all stand to benefit from this objective jurisdictional risk assessment solution.

Financial institutions, ranging from banks preparing for international expansion to institutional investors and global underwriting concerns looking to capture foreign market share, could all benefit from Country-Check’s robust and transparent risk assessment - both in terms of risk mitigation and meeting their regulatory compliance obligations.

Service providers in the financial, online gaming and e-commerce sectors will also find it most valuable in their risk assessment processes.

Can I predict future jurisdictional risk using Country-Check?
By its very nature future risk is very subjective, and heavily dependent on industry-specific risk perceptions and considerations. Country-Check does, however, provide parameters that serve as determinants of future risk.

Although these should be treated as pointers, rather than objective indicators, they serve to illustrate how potential future events and developments can lead to jurisdictional risk level changes.
Low results for dimensions such as Education Levels and Natural Resources, for example, would generally result in a bleak risk forecast for the future.

Australia is hosting APEC, a high-profile conference, in September of 2007. National leaders from 21 countries will be attending this event.

Country-Check’s model is not able to predict the likelihood that a terrorist attack may take place during the conference. However, using the parameters of the model as a guideline, the organisers can conduct a well-informed risk assessment and determine whether Australia, as a country, would be able to limit the adverse impact if such a terrorist attack were to take place.

Australia is known for its good governance practices, stable political climate and effective rule of law. It also has the resources required to maintain adequate levels of security.

If the organisers were to base the conference in a jurisdiction such as Papua New Guinea and a terrorist attack were to occur, the worst-case scenario would look substantially different.

Based on the data gleaned from the relevant parameters provided by Country-Check, the event organisers would be able to deduce that the damage of such attacks would not be as well mitigated in this country as it would in Australia, for example.

In a nutshell, Country-Check provides risk dimensions that may be useful to users in projecting likely future risks within countries they are concerned about.

What if I’m more interested in one specific type of risk only?
Shouldn’t I just look at an alternative credit-focused risk index, instead of using one that calculates overall jurisdictional risk? Country-Risk aims to aid in the management of overall risk. Risk is composed of many factors; but more importantly, none of these factors are independent of one other.

If you are truly only interested in credit risk, you can simply adjust Country-Check’s parameter weighting to reflect the importance of credit risk related dimensions, and correspondingly negate the importance of all other risk related parameters. However, it must be emphasised that this is not recommended.

Country-Check’s Default Weight Setting is the recommended point of departure for any risk assessment - regardless of industry-specific risk considerations.

By using the default settings, you may still zoom into the credit-related dimensions, whilst simultaneously analysing the other risk dimensions.

Doing this will also enable you to examine any parameters that cause your risk ranking to skew as a result of your credit-related risk ranking focus. As such, your assessment of credit risk for that country will be more holistic and well-informed. This will also enable you to then proceed with confidence in determining your industry-specific risk management strategies.

Methodology FAQ

What is the Master Index?
The Master Index is essentially just a number ranging from 0 to 10. This number is a result of the aggregation of all the Sources based underlying risk ranking mechanism. The scale of the number represents the overall risk levels of a particular jurisdiction. The closer the number is to the upper bound of 10, the less risky a country is, and vice versa. A higher Master Index, in other words, indicates a ‘safer’ country, whereas a lower Master Index is indicative of a riskier country.

What is meant by the claim that Country-Check’s method of calculating overall risk indices is non-subjective?
Country-Check is objective in the way in which we mathematically aggregate and combine the various data sources into a risk indicator called the Master Index. Subjectivity does, however, come into play in the process of weight allocation to the various parameters. To ensure objectivity, the system allows for the user weight customisation of these weights.

How does Country-Check’s ranking system handle categorical or ordinal type data?
Country-Check avoids using categorical data sources. The reason for this is the fact that categorical data has no implication or representation on a numerical scale. In order to use such sources, Country-Check has to assign numerical values to each category. We avoid this necessity as it injects a major element of subjectivity into any calculation. As such, Country-Check endeavours to find alternate sources whenever available.

A source was added or removed from Country-Check. How will this affect the results of my current risk calculations, based on previously defined and saved custom weight settings?
Country-Check works in a way that ensures that even though the parameters may be modified over time, previously saved User Weight Sets, which were based on older or different parameter configurations, will still work.

The system ensures this by removing all previously saved weights of which the parameters have been removed, and assigning a weight of zero to this Customised Weight Set to all newly added parameters.

This essentially means that new parameters will not contribute to overall risk if the risk index is calculated based on an older customised version of saved weights.

Why are there uncertainty measures in Country-Check’s risk rankings? Does this mean that the rankings are incorrect?
Country-Check’s back-end ranking machine is based on advanced mathematico-statistical theories. The advantage of working with numbers and statistics is that we are able to capture measures of uncertainty, which are very useful in terms of analysis and accuracy measures.

By having uncertainty measures, it allows Country-Check to begin ranking for all 243 countries and territories. Country-Check does acknowledge that Master Index calculations for certain jurisdictions may not be entirely accurate, due to a lack of source data for that jurisdiction. The inclusion of uncertainty measures enables the user to take cognisance of this, and ensures total calculative transparency.

What is the ‘Recommended World-Check Default Weight Set’?
World-Check’s professional researchers have identified and tested a set of weights that we feel most accurately represent the allocation of each parameter to the definition of overall risk. We highly recommend that first-time system users choose the Default Weight Set as a starting point for their risk assessment.

Advanced users who wish to customize their own weight sets, should nonetheless also use the Default Weight Set as a starting point.

How do Weights affect overall Master Index calculations?
Higher or “heavier” weightings indicate that the particular parameter under scrutiny will contribute greatly to the overall Master Index. Conversely, lower or “lighter” weighted parameters will contribute less in the calculation of the overall Master Index.

What are Sources, Dimensions and Factors?
Sources, Dimensions and Factors are collectively called parameters. Sources are the actual web locations that provide the data that is used to in Country-Check’s risk calculations. “Dimension” is an abstract label indicating a collection of closely related sources. Further to this, “Factors” refer to a set of closely related Dimensions.

Please refer to the Methodology section for a more in-depth explanation.