The Journal oj Finance
and (2) that the most serious change in the majority of these ratios occurred
between the third and the second years prior to bankruptcy. The degree of
seriousness is measured by the yearly change in the ratio values. The latter
observation is extremely significant as it provides evidence consistent with conclusions
derived from the discriminant model. Therefore, the important information
inherent in the individual ratio measurement trends takes on deserved
significance only when integrated with the more analytical discriminant analysis
findings.
V. APPLICATIONS
The use of a multiple discriminant model for predicting bankruptcy has displayed
several advantages, but bankers, credit managers, executives, and investors
will typically not have access to computer procedures such as the
Cooley-Lohnes MDA program. Therefore, it will be necessary to investigate
the results presented in Section IV closely and to attempt to extend the model
for more general application. The procedure described below may be utilized
to select a "cut-off" point, or optimum Z value, which enables predictions without
computer support.^^
By observing those firms which have been misclassified by the discriminant
model in the initial sample, it is concluded that all firms having a Z score of
greater than 2.99 clearly fall into the "non-bankrupt" sector, while those firms
having a Z below 1.81 are all bankrupt. The area between 1.81 and 2.99 will
be defined as the "zone of ignorance" or "gray area" because of the susceptibility
to error classification (see Chart I ) . Since errors are observed in this range
of values, we will be uncertain about a new firm whose Z value falls within
the "zone of ignorance." Hence, it is desirable to establish a guideline for
classifying firms in the "gray area."
The process begins by identifying sample observations which fall within
the overlapping range. These appear as in Table 6. The first digit of the firm