LLC “Consulting Publishing Company “Business Perspectives”
Abstract
Following the calls from literature on bankruptcy, a parsimonious hybrid bankruptcy model is developed in this paper
by combining parametric and non-parametric approaches.To this end, the variables with the highest predictive power to
detect bankruptcy are selected using logistic regression (LR). Subsequently, alternative non-parametric methods
(Multilayer Perceptron, Rough Set, and Classification-Regression Trees) are applied, in turn, to firms classified as
either “bankrupt” or “not bankrupt”. Our findings show that hybrid models, particularly those combining LR and
Multilayer Perceptron, offer better accuracy performance and interpretability and converge faster than each method
implemented in isolation. Moreover, the authors demonstrate that the introduction of non-financial and macroeconomic
variables complement financial ratios for bankruptcy prediction