Financial Compass for Slovak Enterprises: Modeling Economic Stability of Agricultural Entities

Abstract

The risk of corporate financial distress negatively affects the operation of the enterprise itself and can change the financial performance of all other partners that come into close or wider contact. To identify these risks, business entities use early warning systems, prediction models, which help identify the level of corporate financial health. Despite the fact that the relevant financial analyses and financial health predictions are crucial to mitigate or eliminate the potential risks of bankruptcy, the modeling of financial health in emerging countries is mostly based on models which were developed in different economic sectors and countries. However, several prediction models have been introduced in emerging countries (also in Slovakia) in the last few years. Thus, the main purpose of the paper is to verify the predictive ability of the bankruptcy models formed in conditions of the Slovak economy in the sector of agriculture. To compare their predictive accuracy the confusion matrix (cross tables) and the receiver operating characteristic curve are used, which allow more detailed analysis than the mere proportion of correct classifications (predictive accuracy). The results indicate that the models developed in the specific economic sector highly outperform the prediction ability of other models either developed in the same country or abroad, usage of which is then questionable considering the issue of prediction accuracy. The research findings confirm that the highest predictive ability of the bankruptcy prediction models is achieved provided that they are used in the same economic conditions and industrial sector in which they were primarily developed.