PREDICTION OF CORPORATE BANKRUPTCY: EVIDENCE FROM WEST AFRICAN’S SMEs

Abstract

Bankruptcy is a legal proceeding in which a corporation has become insolvent and therefore cannot pay its obligations .The purpose of this paper is to assess the default risk or to predict bankruptcy of some public firms listed on the stock Exchange Securities (BRVM) of West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) and on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE). 34 companies from different sectors and sizes have taken place in this study. The main purpose is to measure the performance of these companies that constitute the backbone of the regional economy whether banks or investors can have confidence on them to finance their activities. To perform this study, the 2013 dataset   financial statements were taken from the website of the two stock exchanges. Then, Discriminant function named Z-scores model of Altman, financial ratio analysis, and the Principal Component Analysis were used. The results of this study show that out of the 34 public companies, only 8 companies have had good financial performance, and on which financial institutions or investors can have confidence for financing or investment. Among all the companies, the most best performing company was listed in Ghana Stock Exchange. The most problem encountered by 85% of the 34 companies was the liquidity problem. This study will permit investors and banks to put regards on these companies on one side, and to awaken those companies which have realized bad financial performances on the other side.

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