A decision tree approach for predicting insolvency of SMEs: an empirical research in Spain

This paper addresses the problem of insolvency prediction in Spanish SMEs from a binary classification perspective. From a dataset containing more than 325 dependent variables of different natures (including demographic and economic-financial) and 17562 SMEs, a decision tree has been fitted that wit...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Novoa Hernández, Pavel, Navarro Galera, Andrés, Lara Rubio, Juan, Cruz, Carlos
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Universidad de La Laguna (ULL)
Repositorio:RIULL. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de La Laguna
OAI Identifier:oai:riull.ull.es:915/41286
Acceso en línea:http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/41286
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Insolvency
decision tree
SME
binary classification
Pareto optimality
model selection
bankruptcy
Descripción
Sumario:This paper addresses the problem of insolvency prediction in Spanish SMEs from a binary classification perspective. From a dataset containing more than 325 dependent variables of different natures (including demographic and economic-financial) and 17562 SMEs, a decision tree has been fitted that with a 0.93 accuracy predicts the state of a company and allows it to identify the most relevant variables in such prediction. The results obtained indicate that, in general, insolvency can be predicted from very few financial variables and with an anticipation of more than 10 years before the insolvency event. As a result, it is possible to provide early warnings to SMEs based on the indicators identified.