EMPLOYING ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS AND MULTIPLE DISCRIMINANT ANALYSIS TO EVALUATE THE IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON THE FINANCIAL STATUS OF JORDANIAN COMPANIES

Aim/Purpose This paper aims to empirically quantify the financial distress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on companies listed on Amman Stock Exchange (ASE). The paper also aims to identify the most important predictors of financial distress pre- and mid-pandemic. Background The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge toll, not only on human lives but also on many businesses. This provided the impetus to assess the impact of the pandemic on the financial status of Jordanian companies. Methodology The initial sample comprised 165 companies, which was cleansed and reduced to 84 companies as per data availability. Financial data pertaining to the 84 companies were collected over a two-year period, 2019 and 2020, to empirically quantify the impact of the pandemic on companies in the dataset. Two approaches were employed. The first approach involved using Multiple Discriminant Analysis (MDA) based on Altman's (1968) model to obtain the Z-score of each company over the investigation period. The second approach involved developing models using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) with 15 standard financial ratios to find out the most important variables in predicting financial distress and create an accurate Financial Distress Prediction (FDP) model. Contribution This research contributes by providing a better understanding of how financial distress predictors perform during dynamic and risky times. The research confirmed that in spite of the negative impact of COVID-19 on the financial health of companies, the main predictors of financial distress remained relatively steadfast. This indicates that standard financial distress predictors can be regarded as being impervious to extraneous financial and/or health calamities. Findings Results using MDA indicated that more than 63% of companies in the dataset have a lower Z-score in 2020 when compared to 2019. There was also an 8% increase in distressed companies in 2020, and around 6% of companies came to be no longer healthy. As for the models built using ANNs, results show that the most important variable in predicting financial distress is the Return on Capital. The predictive accuracy for the 2019 and 2020 models measured using the area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) graph was 87.5% and 97.6%, respectively. Recommendations Decision makers and top management are encouraged to focus on the identified for Practitioners highly liquid ratios to make thoughtful decisions and initiate preemptive actions to avoid organizational failure. Recommendations This research can be considered a stepping stone to investigating the impact of for Researchers COVID-19 on the financial status of companies. Researchers are recommended to replicate the methods used in this research across various business sectors to understand the financial dynamics of companies during uncertain times. Impact on Society Stakeholders in Jordanian-listed companies should concentrate on the list of most important predictors of financial distress as presented in this study. Future Research Future research may focus on expanding the scope of this study by including other geographical locations to check for the generalisability of the results. Future research may also include post-COVID-19 data to check for changes in results. © 2023 Informing Science Institute. All rights reserved.

Financial health of the Malaysian public universities: whither the way forward?

The purpose of the paper is to examine the financial health of selected public universities in Malaysia. The study assessed the performance of Malaysian research universities, on the primary reserve ratio, viability ratio, return on net asset ratio and net operating revenue ratio, as well as the Hirschman-Herfindahl Index for revenue diversification from 2010 to 2020. Results suggest poor financial health, high dependence on government funding and revenue volatility. Several universities recorded consecutive financial deficits in recent years. Third-stream revenues are low, and the universities are struggling to generate the 25% self-generated revenue target set by the government. This paper provides longitudinal empirical data on the financial health of public universities and has important implications for policymakers and university management in budget allocation and financial management decisions, particularly given the adverse financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Higher Education Policy & Management is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Towards a Model for Inclusive Healthcare Access post COVID-19

The devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed years of cyclic inequalities faced by disadvantaged and minority communities. Unequal access to healthcare and a lack of financial resources further exacerbates their suffering, especially during a pandemic. In such critical conditions, information technology-based healthcare services can be an efficient way of increasing access to healthcare for these communities. In this paper, we put forward a decision model for guiding the distribution of IT-based healthcare services for racial minorities. We augment the Health Belief Model by adding financial and technology beliefs. We posit that financial inclusion of minority populations increases their ability to access technology and, by extension, IT-based healthcare services. Financial inclusion and the use of secure private technologies like federated learning can indeed enable greater access to healthcare services for minorities. Therefore, we incorporate financial, health, and technology tools to develop a model for equitable delivery of healthcare services and test its applicability in different use-case scenarios. © 2022 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.

Insight into the resilience of the Romanian economy

We are contemporary with various financial crises of global magnitude, starting with the Great Depression of 2008-2009, so-called the "subprime crisis", the economic crisis generated by the COVID 19 pandemic, but also the one that is ongoing nowadays, caused by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. All these extreme situations generate reactions of the most diverse and challenging to delimit and predict so that the economic entities must show permanent resilience to recover quickly and emerge victorious from the fight with the disturbing phenomena. The present study attempted an x-ray of the Romanian economy after the first year of the COVID pandemic, the most difficult year when the restrictions were among the most severe, analyzing at the same time the years before the beginning of the pandemic for an accurate picture. At the same time, we tried to answer the questions of why a company is more resilient than others using a sample of the top 100 companies in Romania, analyzing the impact on revenue growth of 13 indicators grouped in 4 classes, namely Business efficiency, Sustainable Profitability, Financial Stability, Business dynamics & stability. The obtained results may have significan economic policy implications.

A study on the impact of COVID-19 on the financial health of Indian companies

Unexpected lockdown of the country for more than four months has led to a huge reduction of economic activity and adversely affected the profitability and liquidity of companies. The studyaims to assess the potential damage caused by COVID-19 to the financial health of Indian companies. NSE NIFTY 50 companies were selected as a sample for the study and Altman Z-Score model was used to measure their financial health at the end of December 2019, March 2020 and June 2020. Paired sample t-test was used to test significant changes in financial healthduring the period of study. The study witnessed adverse impact of COVID-19 on the financial health of selected companies. Oil, Gas, Metals, Power, Construction, Fertilisers, Pesticides, Services and Telecom are the sectors which are adversely affected by the pandemic. Copyright © 2022 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Federated networks in England and Australia cricket: a model of economic dependency and financial insecurity

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to critically examine the financial health and performance of the English and Australian cricket networks. This includes the county cricket clubs (CCC) and state and territory cricket associations (STCA) affiliated to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Australia (CA) respectively, as well as the ECB and CA themselves. The authors apply resource dependency theory to understand if there are any financial dependencies within the networks of cricket in England and Australia.Design/methodology/approachThe data for this research was obtained from the financial statements of the ECB, the 18 affiliated CCCs, CA and the six affiliated STCAs. This sample covers the last 5 years of financial information (2014–2019) for all the organisations at the time of writing. Ratio analysis was conducted on all organisations within the sample to assess financial health and performance.FindingsBoth CCCs and STCAs show signs of poor financial health. There is a clear dependence on the financial support they receive from the ECB and CA respectively and this dependence appears more prominent in Australia. The ECB and CA have better financial health which ultimately allows them to financially support the CCCs and STCAs.Originality/valueThe ECB and CA are facing difficult financial decisions to remain financially secure themselves due to the impact of COVID-19 but also to support their affiliated clubs. The affiliated clubs do not generate sufficient revenues and must diversity their revenue streams if they are to become financially self-sustaining. This financial structure and distribution mechanism will be vital in safeguarding the future of some of England's and Australia's most important cricket organisations.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Financial Health of SMEs

European governments, in order to limit the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, adopted restrictive measures in the early 2020. These measures were aimed at restricting business operations and the free movement of individuals. These restrictions significantly worsened business situation of thousands of small- and medium-sized enterprises. Compared to large companies, small- and medium-sized enterprises generally possess limited human and financial capital and it is more difficult for them to survive longer periods of lockdown or partial lockdown with limited or no income. The aim of this manuscript is to analyse the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the financial health of small- and medium-sized enterprises in Slovakia. Analysis was performed on a sample of 109,340 small- and medium-sized enterprises from Slovakia by comparison of selected financial indicators for the pre-COVID year 2019 and the COVID year 2020 on a sector level. The identification of statistically significant differences was performed by the Kruskal–Wallis test (nonparametric ANOVA). Results indicate that the most COVID-affected sectors were construction, food processing industry, law, consulting and accounting, retail, services and tourism and gastronomy. Impact of COVID restrictions was observed by worsened indicators of debt and profitability, while the liquidity indicators did not worsen compared to the 2019 levels. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Holistic thinking and risk-taking perceptions reduce risk-taking intentions: ethical, financial, and health/safety risks across genders and cultures

Holistic thinking involves four subconstructs: causality, contradiction, attention to the whole, and change. This holistic perspective varies across Eastern-Western cultures and genders. We theorize that holistic thinking reduces three domain-specific risk-taking behavioral intentions (ethical, financial, and health/safety) directly and indirectly through enhanced risk-taking attitudes. Our formative theoretical model treats the four subconstructs of holistic thinking as yoked antecedents and frames it in a proximal context of causes and consequences. We simultaneously explore the direct and indirect paths and test our model across cultures, genders, and the combination of the two. For the entire sample (N=531), holistic thinking negatively relates to risk intentions via enhanced risk perceptions. Across cultures, the indirect paths prevail among Chinese people (n = 284), and both direct and indirect paths triumph for Americans (n = 247 ) . Across genders, the indirect paths exist for females, whereas the negative direct path (risk-raking attitudes -> behavioral intentions) succeeds for males. Across cultures and genders, holistic thinking negatively relates to American males' ethical risks the most but Chinese males' financial risks the least. Risk-taking perceptions are negatively related to Chinese males' ethical risks the most, but Chinese people's (males/females) financial risks the least. Causality and change are vital for all contexts, attention to the whole for all males and Chinese males, and contradiction for Americans and all females. Holistic thinking has limits and is less robust than risk-taking perceptions in reducing risky behavioral intentions. Our practical implications help people make ethical, healthy, and wealthy decisions.

Formal Micro-Credit for Refugees: New Evidence and Thoughts on an Elusive Path to Self-Reliance

The provision of formal micro-credit for refugees has been promoted as a dignified way to improve their ability to generate income through small-scale enterprises and reduce poverty. As humanitarian funding declines in protracted displacement situations, such approaches are sought to transform refugees into self-reliant, resilient, entrepreneurial agents who are no longer dependent on aid and can overcome a crisis with their own resources and financial confidence. The paper in hand questions this claim on the basis of new, comprehensive empirical insights on the financial lives of refugees in non-camp settings in Jordan. By applying the perspective of the credit users, not the suppliers, our evidence shows that the pervasive use of debt (mostly informal) does not signify latent demand for formal micro-credit. In a context where refugees face restrictions on right to work, move, set up businesses, and imagine a future in the host country, formal credit cannot improve self-reliance. The paper sheds light on a larger variety of sources of debt that are crucial for refugees to manage their lives. In conclusion, the paper argues that the rhetoric around micro-credit as a path to refugee self-reliance has to be re-visited as problematic, even damaging, and humanitarian actors should push this agenda with caution.

Federated networks in England and Australia cricket: a model of economic dependency and financial insecurity

Purpose The purpose of this study is to critically examine the financial health and performance of the English and Australian cricket networks. This includes the county cricket clubs (CCC) and state and territory cricket associations (STCA) affiliated to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Australia (CA) respectively, as well as the ECB and CA themselves. The authors apply resource dependency theory to understand if there are any financial dependencies within the networks of cricket in England and Australia. Design/methodology/approach The data for this research was obtained from the financial statements of the ECB, the 18 affiliated CCCs, CA and the six affiliated STCAs. This sample covers the last 5 years of financial information (2014-2019) for all the organisations at the time of writing. Ratio analysis was conducted on all organisations within the sample to assess financial health and performance. Findings Both CCCs and STCAs show signs of poor financial health. There is a clear dependence on the financial support they receive from the ECB and CA respectively and this dependence appears more prominent in Australia. The ECB and CA have better financial health which ultimately allows them to financially support the CCCs and STCAs. Originality/value The ECB and CA are facing difficult financial decisions to remain financially secure themselves due to the impact of COVID-19 but also to support their affiliated clubs. The affiliated clubs do not generate sufficient revenues and must diversity their revenue streams if they are to become financially self-sustaining. This financial structure and distribution mechanism will be vital in safeguarding the future of some of England's and Australia's most important cricket organisations.

Evaluation of the Financial Distress Level of Construction Companies in Malaysia Using Z-score Model

The companies’ financial distress is a popular issue nowadays due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic recently. The Covid-19 pandemic has been greatly deteriorated and jeopardized the financial health of the companies from all sectors, including the construction sector. The analysis on the financial performance of the companies is a good indicator to determine the financial distress level of the companies. This study aims to measure the financial health of listed construction companies in Malaysia with Altman Z-score model. Altman Z-score model comprises five important and significant financial ratios that are utilized to analyze the financial distress level of the companies. The power of the Z-score model is able to categorize the financial performance of the companies into three zones, namely safe zone, grey zone or distress zone. This study is significant because it helps to identify the financial distress level of the company. Hence, the companies can take remedial actions in order to improve themselves in terms of financial health. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Financial literacy as a mediator of personal financial health during COVID-19: A structural equation modelling approach: [version 2;peer review: 2 approved]

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has become a global humanitarian challenge. This scourge has impacted people from all walks of life as well as every economic sector and activity, from travel to automotives, hotels to banking, and supply chain to retail. The pandemic has affected not only physical and mental health but also financial health. Studies have examined the pandemic’s economic impact, but very few have examined its impact on personal finances. Efforts to contain the pandemic’s spread, such as lockdowns, have resulted in suspended business operations throughout the world that have intensified joblessness. To prepare and protect people from such unforeseen situations, financial education and planning are necessary. We attempt to expand the evidence on this issue by applying a structural equation modelling approach to identify the mediating role of financial literacy programs in preparing and protecting household wealth against sudden worldwide setbacks. The research design is descriptive and exploratory using snowball sampling technique. The data was collected through an internet survey. In total, 400 survey responses were obtained. After testing the measurement model for key validity dimensions, the hypothesised causal relationships are examined in several path models. The results indicated that coronavirus awareness exerts a direct or indirect influence on the financial health of individuals through financial literacy. We conclude that financial literacy has a full mediating effect on the personal finance of individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings not only contributed to the need and understanding of financial literacy but also have managerial implications. Financial literacy programs provide investment advice and suggestions which are actionable and also work to help individuals to come out stronger in terms of knowledge and skill set when the COVID-19 crisis passes.

EVALUATION OF FINANCIAL HEALTH OF COMPANIES THROUGH DATA ENVELOPMENT ANALYSIS: SELECTION OF VARIABLES FOR THE DEA MODEL IN R

Existing companies need to continually adapt to changing market conditions. The market situation may change, say, from day to day, as in 2008, when the Great Depression broke out, or as is currently the case during the COVID-19 pandemic. For this reason, companies need to monitor their financial health and be able to cope with such unpredictable situations. The aim of this paper is to provide a detailed guide to selecting appropriate financial indicators for the Data Envelopment Analysis model that can be used to evaluate the financial health of companies. Specifically, we use the Mann-Whitney test for indicators of IT companies in Slovakia during 2012-2017. The result is a process of selecting variables to evaluate the financial health of companies through the DEA model, applicable to both business practice and academia.

COVID-19, liquidity and financial health: empirical evidence from South Asian economy

PurposeThe pandemic COVID-19 has affected every sector of an economy in every possible way. Banking sector of Bangladesh has been affected by it badly. The purpose of this paper is to find out the impact of COVID-19 on the liquidity and financial health of the listed banks in Bangladesh.Design/methodology/approachLiquidity ratios are calculated to measure the liquidity condition of the banks and revised Altman's Z-Score Model for non-manufacturing companies is used to measure the financial health. The ratios are compared before and during the COVID-19 periods to assess the impact.FindingsThe findings of this study indicate a deterioration of liquidity position and financial health of the listed banks after the emergence of this pandemic. Though the banks have poor liquidity ratios and financial health prior to the emergence of this pandemic, they have decreased more in the second quarter of 2020. Most of the banks have poor liquidity ratios and cash position. The listed Islamic Banks have poor financial health than the listed Commercial Banks and all the banks belong to the red zone in all the quarters.Practical implicationsThe results of this study will have policy implications for companies and regulators of money market.Originality/valueThis paper is a pioneer initiative in assessing the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on liquidity and financial health based on empirical data.