The Journal oj Finance
years prior to bankruptcy. The two year period is an exaggeration since the
average lead time for the correctly classified firms is appoximately twenty
months with two firms having a thirteen month lead. The results are:
Predicted
Group 1 Group 2
(Bankrupt)(Non-Bankrupt)
23 9
Type I
Type II
Total
Number
Correct
23
31
54
Per cent
Correct
72
94
83
Per cent
Error
28
6
17
Group 1
Group 2
n
32
33
65
31
The reduction in the accuracy of group classification is understandable because
impending bankruptcy is more remote and the indications are less clear. Nevertheless,
72 per cent correct assignment is evidence that bankruptcy can be
predicted two years prior to the event. The T3^e II error is slightly larger
(6 per cent vs. 3 per cent) in this test but still is extremely accurate. Further
tests will be applied below to determine the accuracy of predicting bankruptcy
as much as five years prior to the actual event.
(3) Potential Bias and Validation Techniques. When the firms used to
determine the discriminant coefficients are re-classified, the resulting accuracy
is biased upward by (a) sampling errors in the original sample and (b) search
bias. The latter bias is. inherent in the process of reducing the original set of
variables (twenty-two) to the best variable profile (five). The possibility of
bias due to intensive searching is inherent in any empirical study. While a
subset of variables is effective in the initial sample, there is no guarantee that
it will be effective for the population in general.