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Commercial and Islamic banks are important players in the UAE financial market. However, little is known about their financial distress because these financial institutions usually resolve financial distress within their own organisations, which means that outsiders cannot explicitly observe distress. The purpose of the research is therefore to identify the main drivers of financial institutions' financial distress.

The paper estimates a probability distress prediction model using the BankScope Database and the annual reports of UAE financial institutions submitted to UAE Security Exchange Authority. The paper also analyses the impact of macroeconomic information for forecasting financial institutions' financial distress.

The fundamentals of financial institutions in terms of cost income ratio, equity to total assets, total asset growth and ratio of loan loss reserve to gross loans (all these variables with a lag of one year) positively impacted the probability of financial distress in the next year. Recent findings for emerging economies have cast some doubt on the usefulness of macroeconomic information for financial institutions' risk assessment. Similar results are found for UAE financial institutions in predicting the probability of financial distress.

This is the first study to provide empirical evidence on the drivers of financial distress of commercial and Islamic banks in UAE during 2000‐2008, and to examine the extent of the financial distress that can be can be attributed to internal bank‐specific fundamental factors and external factors in the economy.

This paper aims to develop a corporate financial distress model for Indian listed companies using financial and non-financial parameters by using a conditional logit regression technique.

This study used a sample of 96 companies, of which 48 were declared sick between 2014 and 2016. The sample was divided into a training sample and a testing sample. The variables for the study included nine financial variables and four non-financial variables. The models were developed using financial variables alone as well as combining financial and non-financial variables. The performance of the test sample was measured with confusion matrix, sensitivity, specificity, precision, F-measure, Types 1 and 2 error.

The results show that models with financial variables had a prediction accuracy of 85.19 and 86.11 per cent, whereas models with a combination of financial and non-financial variables predict with comparatively better accuracy of 89.81 and 91.67 per cent. Net asset value, long-term debt–equity ratio, return on investment, retention ratio, age, promoters holdings pledged and institutional holdings are the critical financial and non-financial predictors of financial distress.

This study contributes to the financial distress prediction literature in different ways. First, there have been, until now, few studies in the area of financial distress prediction in the Indian context. Second, business failure studies in the past have used only financial variables. The authors have combined financial and non-financial variables in their model to increase predictive ability. Thirdly, in most earlier studies, variable institutional holdings were found to affect financial distress negatively. In contrast, the authors found this parameter to be positively significant to the financial distress of the company. Finally, there have hitherto been few studies that have used promoter holdings pledged (PHP) or pledge ratio. The authors found this variable to influence business failure positively.

Personal financial stress-free living is desired by many, which dwells on sound financial literacy (including financial behaviour, financial knowledge and financial attitude). Many individuals do not make optimal savings and investment decisions. The realisation that these choices may well lead to low living standards has also increased economic anxiety, especially in Sub-Sahara African countries, including Ghana. Thus, this study underscores the link between financial literacy and financial distress in Ghana. It establishes whether persons that are financially literate escape financial distress in their life.

The paper engages nationally representative survey data and adopts a positivist research approach with logistic regression analysis to establish the likelihood of financial literate persons experiencing financial distress.

This study establishes that financially literate individuals are 2.4% less likely to experience financial distress. Socioeconomic characteristics greatly influence the probability of one experiencing financial hardship. It submits that policy can be directed towards improving financial habits (financial literacy) to enhance individuals' financial behaviour to lessen personal financial distress.

Not much attention has been paid to whether financial literacy has a nexus with financial distress. Few studies (not on Sub-Saharan Africa) that have looked at this are done, neglecting a sensitivity analysis of socioeconomic characteristics in establishing the relations. However, this current study dwells on econometric analysis to establish the margin or extend to which a financially literate person may or may not escape financial distress given his/her socioeconomic characteristics.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a model to assess and rank the financial risk of a municipal government (“municipality”). Financial risk is the likelihood that a municipality will experience financial distress.

Logistic regression is used with financial indicators to assess the level of financial risk. Then, the municipalities are ranked according to their financial risk. As predictor variables for the regression model, indicators are used that were developed by a Pennsylvania state agency to monitor the financial condition of municipalities.

Financial risk is positively associated with debt service, population, tax effort, and public service on roadways, while negatively correlated with intergovernmental revenues, operating position, user charges, capital outlays, fund balances, and tax revenue concentration. The financial risk model is able to correctly classify up to 99 percent of municipalities as either at risk or not at risk of financial distress.

The financial risk model was developed using data from one state in the USA. Further research is needed to test the model’s application to other states and countries.

Financial risk is on the rise since the Great Recession. This study may be used by municipal managers, citizens, creditors, and regulators to assess and rank the financial risk of a municipality.

This study provides a method of classifying municipalities as either at risk or not at risk of financial distress. Previous models of the financial condition of municipalities do not provide a method of assessing and ranking financial risk.

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine how the voluntary formation of a specialised investment committee (IC) and IC characteristics affect financial distress risk (FDR) and whether such impact is influenced by the level of investment inefficiency.

The authors use a large sample of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) non-financial companies during 2006–2016. A principal component analysis is done to aggregate and derive a factor score for IC characteristics (i.e. independence, size and meeting) as a proxy for the effectiveness of IC. This study also uses three measurements of FDR to corroborate the findings and partitions sample firms into overinvesting and underinvesting companies to examine the potential impact of investment inefficiency on the IC–FDR nexus.

Using feasible generalised least square estimation method, the authors document that the likelihood of financial distress occurrence decreases for firms with separate ICs. The authors also find that firms with effective ICs enjoy lower FDR. In other words, the probability of financial distress minimises if the IC is large, meets frequently and has a high number of independent directors. However, the authors find neither any moderation nor any mediation effect of investment inefficiency for the impact of IC and IC attributes on FDR. The additional analysis indicates the expected benefits of an actively performing IC are amplified for firms with risk of both over- and underinvestment. These findings are robust to alternative measures of FDR and investment inefficiency, sub-sample analysis and endogeneity concerns.

This study, to the best of researchers’ knowledge, is the first to provide evidence in GCC firms’ perspective, suggesting that the existence of an effective IC is associated with a lower risk of financial distress, and to some extent, the economic benefits of IC are aggrandised for companies with a high probability of over- and underinvestment problems. These results are unique and contribute to a small but growing body of literature documenting the need for effective ICs and their economic consequences on investment efficiency in the FDR environment. The findings of this study carry valuable practical implications for regulatory bodies, policymakers, investors and other interested parties in the GCC region.

The purpose of this study is to present the evidence of the association between financial statement comparability and corporate financial distress.

This is an empirical study, and this study uses multiple regression analysis to evaluate hypothesis.

The authors find a significant decrease in the probability of financial distress as accounting comparability increases. Findings of this study suggest that distressed firms tend to produce financial statements that compare poorly to those of peer firms; the effectiveness of predicting financial distress with accounting ratios may be conditional on comparability with peers; and financial statement comparability may be predictive of financial distress.

First, this study only used publicly available financial data, which may not be representative of all countries and could differ because of differences in accounting practices. Second, although this study found a connection between accounting comparability and financial distress, it cannot prove a causal relationship, as other factors that were not controlled for may also have an impact. Third, this study used various measures of financial distress, but other measures could lead to different results. Finally, this study did not include all relevant variables, such as industry-specific factors and macroeconomic conditions, which could influence the relationship between accounting comparability and financial distress.

For investors and financial analysts, the results imply that accounting comparability can serve as a useful signal for identifying companies that are more likely to remain financially stable in the long run. Thus, they may prefer to invest in or recommend highly comparable firms over their less comparable counterparts. For auditors, this study underscores the importance of promoting and enforcing accounting standards that improve comparability, as this can help mitigate the risk of financial distress among their clients. Regulators may also consider the implications of the study’s findings when designing policies and guidelines related to financial reporting and disclosure.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study investigating the association between financial statement comparability and corporate financial distress of the US firms. This study uses large, comprehensive and multi-year data. Furthermore, this is the only study that presents the evidence of negative association between comparability and firm financial distress.

This paper empirically investigates the impact of board diversity in terms of demographic and cognitive dimensions on financial distress likelihood in an emerging Chinese market to explore whether the Chief Executive Officers' (CEOs) power moderates the relationship between board diversity and the probability of financial distress.

To test the hypothesized relationships, demographic diversity through gender, age and nationality, and cognitive diversity through education, expertise and tenure, are taken as independent variables to investigate their impact on the probability of financial distress measured by the Altman China Z score. Data is collected for 13,740 firm-year observations from 2009 to 2018. This study employs panel data regression under fixed effect assumptions. Further, to control the possible endogeneity issue, this study uses a two-step System Generalized Methods of Moments (GMM) model as a robust check.

The results reveal that board diversity is positively associated with financial distress Z score, suggesting that diverse boards are helpful in reducing the likelihood of financial distress. Moreover, CEO power positively moderates this relationship. It means that board diversity, in the presence of powerful CEOs, is more effective in reducing financial distress likelihood by controlling the wrong financial decisions taken by top executives to reap personal benefits. Further, the robustness model confirms the relationship between board diversity and the probability of financial distress.

To the best of researchers' knowledge, this is one of the earliest studies to investigate board diversity by constructing demographic and cognitive board diversity indexes as a determinant of financial distress likelihood in China. Further, researchers found no study in the literature using CEO power as a contextual variable on the relationship between board diversity and financial distress.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of corporate governance proxies by ownership structure on the likelihood of firms’ financial distress for a sample of 146 Pakistani public-limited companies listed at the Karachi Stock Exchange over the period of 2003-2012.

The dynamic generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator and panel logistic regression (PLR) are used to determine the impact of corporate governance on the financial distress. The ownership structure is used as a determinant of corporate governance, while the Altman Z-score is utilized as an indicator of financial distress, as it measures financial distress inversely. The smaller the values of the Z-score, the higher will be the risk of financial distress.

The authors find insignificant impact of ownership structure on firms’ likelihood of financial distress based on the dynamic GMM method. However, the PLR results indicate that foreign shareholdings have a significant negative association with firms’ likelihood of financial distress, in the case of Pakistan. An evidence of a negative and insignificant relationship between institutional ownership and financial distress was observed, which indicates the passive role of institutional investors in Pakistan. The results also reveal a positive and significant relationship between insider’s ownership and likelihood of financial distress. This finding is consistent with the entrenchment hypothesis which predicts that insiders are more aligned with their self-interest than outside shareholders’ interest when their shareholding increases in the business. Furthermore, the results also reveal insignificant association between government shareholdings and the probability of financial distress. The reason could be the social welfare objective of the government entities rather than profit maximization.

The findings of this study provide more insight to corporate managers and investors about the association between the quality of corporate governance and the degree of financial distress, with respect to Pakistani firms. Furthermore, this study contributes to the existing literature by adding new evidence from developing countries like Pakistan which are helpful for regulatory bodies and policymakers in the formulation of long-term corporate governance strategies to manage the financial distress. It is well established that strengthening the quality of corporate governance practices enhances the efficiency of capital markets and reduces the probability of financial distress.

The study extends the body of existing literature on corporate governance and the likelihood of financial distress with reference to Pakistan. The results suggest that policymakers may pay special attention to the quality of corporate governance, specifically ownership structure, while predicting corporate financial distress.

Using data on 51 firms traded in the Egyptian Exchange from 2014 to 2016, this paper aimed to assess the efficiency of corporate governance (CG) and intellectual capital (IC) practices and to explore their influence on the probability of a firm's financial distress.

The relative efficiency of CG and IC practices has been measured under the Malmquist data envelopment analysis model. A modified Z-score model was applied to assess firms' financial distress.

The Wilcoxon signed-rank test revealed almost insignificant evidence regarding the improvement of CG and IC efficiency over the study period. The efficiency score of CG practices had no impact on the likelihood of financial distress. However, the efficiency score of IC negatively affected the probability of financial distress.

The integration of data envelopment analysis with Tobit regression was required for identifying the significant drivers of efficient CG and IC.

The findings shed light on the role of CG and IC in alleviating the degree of financial distress in Egypt as an emerging market, especially the need to raise firms' compliance with the Egyptian CG code from a voluntary to mandatory status.

This study, using Malmquist data envelopment analysis, is among the first attempts to assess the relative efficiency of CG and IC practices and their effects on financial distress.

Using 2010 corporate governance principles and recommendations (CGPR) as a natural setting, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between risk management committee (RMC) gender diversity and a firm’s likelihood of financial distress. Empirical evidence regarding whether CGPR (2010) enhances RMC gender diversity (RMCGD) is also provided.

Data were collected from the annual reports of the top 300 Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) listed companies from 2007 to 2014. To control for potential endogeneity, the association between (RMCGD) and a firm’s likelihood of financial distress was investigated using an instrumental variable approach (panel 2SLS regression). The relationship between CGPR (2010) and RMCGD was explored using panel regression analysis with firm fixed effects.

RMCGD was found to be associated with a lower probability of financial distress, suggesting that women are better at monitoring and reducing firms’ excessive risk-taking behaviours, which, in turn, decreases firms’ risk of financial distress. The results also indicate that CGPR (2010) is quite effective in enhancing committee gender diversity. In the additional analysis, the results show that RMCGD moderates the negative relationship between risk and likelihood of financial distress. Importantly, the proportion of women with financial experience on RMCs is more effective in reducing the likelihood of financial distress compared to the proportion of men with financial experience on RMCs. These results highlight the benefits of having a gender diverse RMC.

The results were based on the top 300 ASX-listed companies; thus, restricting generalisability. In addition, this study only focussed on listed firms, non-listed firms may add additional insights to the literature.

The results provide new and useful empirical evidence about RMCGD for Australian policymakers. This paper suggests that, in the short-term at least, RMCGD should be encouraged by regulators. Regulators could also recommend that the firms with a non-diverse RMC include women with financial experience on their RMC.

Given that prior studies have indicated that gender diversity is closely related to risk, this study contributes to the previous literature by investigating RMCGD and its effect on the likelihood of financial distress. It is expected that the role of RMC member would be to protect the firm from ultimate failure (likelihood of financial distress), especially during a financial crisis.