Assessment of the relationship between liquidity and unprofitability of companies in preventing their bankruptcy

Abstract

In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a moratorium was imposed on launching bankruptcy proceedings for enterprises in Ukraine. It was canceled in 2022 because of the war to encourage the company management to improve the efficiency of liquidity and solvency management, seeking ways to increase companies’ profitability and reduce the probability of bankruptcy. The study aims to determine the impact of liquidity on unprofitability, which can be considered an element in the management decision-making system to prevent bankruptcies of Ukrainian companies. The correlation-regression analysis was based on statistical data from Ukrainian companies for 2012–2019 and 2013–2020. The study found practically no connection between the unprofitability of Ukrainian companies and the decrease in the number of court cases in which a decision was made to recognize the bankruptcy of Ukrainian companies. On the other hand, there is a strong connection between Ukrainian companies’ liquidity and unprofitability. The constructed regression equation is statistically reliable and characterized by a high level of adequacy to real economic processes and phenomena. An increase in the general liquidity ratio by 1% leads to an increase in the unprofitability of Ukrainian companies by 0.0346%. According to the company size construct, the most substantial connection is recorded for medium-sized companies (the correlation coefficient is 0.927, the coefficient of determination is 0.860, and the built correlation-regression equation is characterized by statistical reliability and adequacy). In contrast, large, small, and micro enterprises have a weak and moderate connection.