The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said Thursday that it continued to find compliance issues in its examinations of registered credit rating agencies.

The SEC issued its second annual staff report on the findings of its compliance exams of the registered rating agencies. It reports that, with one exception, all the rating agencies appropriately addressed its recommendations in the first annual report. The 2012 report also discusses its staff’s findings and recommendations in eight areas, including whether rating agencies are conducting business in accordance with their policies, procedures, and methodologies, how they manage conflicts of interest, and whether they are maintaining effective internal controls.

According to the commission, its staff identified findings and made recommendations to all the credit raters it reviewed. Some of the more common deficiencies include: changes in rating methodology that aren’t disclosed for several months; downgrades that were not timely; methodologies that were published and disclosed inconsistently, and in a less-than-transparent manner; and, directors that were not actively exercising their required oversight duties.

Additionally, the SEC said that its Office of Credit Ratings will promote compliance between exams by sending letters to the designated compliance officers at all of the firms as issues arise. The first industry-wide letter was sent Thursday, urging the rating agencies to review SEC rules on preventing the misuse of material nonpublic information and avoiding unfair, coercive, or abusive practices with respect to credit ratings.

“The SEC’s enhanced oversight of [rating agencies] is having a positive effect,” said Thomas Butler, director of the SEC’s Office of Credit Ratings. “The firms have been generally responsive to the staff’s recommendations, which are intended to strengthen NRSROs’ policies, procedures, and operations and to make their internal governance and controls more robust. We will continue to review their responses to our recommendations and use our examinations to promote compliance with statutory and commission requirements.”