The Journal of Finance
test of the discriminant model's effectiveness would be to search out a large
sample of firms that have encountered earnings problems and then to observe
the MDA's classification results.
In order to perform the above test, a sample of sixty-six firms is selected
on the basis of net income (deficit) reports in the years 1958 and 1961, with
thirty-three from each year. Over 65 per cent of these firms had suffered two
or three years of negative profits in the previous three years reporting. The
firms are selected regardless of their asset size, with the only two criteria being
that they were manufacturing firms which suffered losses in the year 1958 or
1961.^^ The two base years are chosen due to their relatively poor economic
performances in terms of GNP growth. The companies are then evaluated by
the discriminant model to determine their predictive bankruptcy potential.
The results, illustrated below, show that fifteen of the sixty-six firms are
classified as bankrupts with the remaining fifty-one correctly classified. The
number of misclassifications is actually fourteen, as one of the firms went
bankrupt within two years after the data period.
Predicted
Non-Bankrupt
Group
Actual
Type II
(total)
Number
Correct
52
Bankrupt
14
Per cent
Correct
79
Per cent
Error
21
Non-Bankrupt
52
n
66
Therefore, the discriminant model correctly classified 79 per cent of the
sample firms. This percentage is all the more impressive when one considers
that these firms constitute a secondary sample of admittedly below average
performance. The t-test for the significance of this result is t = 4.8; significant
at the .001 level.
Another interesting facet of this test is the relationship of these "temporarily"
sick firms' Z scores, and the "zone of ignorance" or gray-area described
more completely in the next section. Briefly, the "zone of ignorance" is that
range of Z scores (see Chart I) where misclassifications can be observed. Chart
I illustrates some of the individual firm Z scores (initial sample) and the group
centroids. These points are plotted in one dimensional space and, therefore,
are easily visualized.
Of the fourteen misclassified firms in this secondary sample, ten have Z
scores between 1.81 and 2.67, which indicates that although they are classified
as bankrupts, the prediction of bankruptcy is not as definite as the vast majority
in the initial sample of bankrupt firms. In fact, just under one-third of the
sixty-six firms in this last sample have Z scores within the entire overlap area,
which emphasizes that the selection process is successful in choosing firms
which showed signs (profitability) of deterioration.