METHODS OF BANKRUPTCY PREDICTION AT THE ENTERPRISES UNDER CONDITIONS OF QUARANTINE RESTRICTIONS DUE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Authors:   Vinnytsia National Agrarian University, Ukraine, Voloshyna Oksana 
Published: September 2022

The problem of bankruptcy prevention is growing in importance under conditions of the decline of economic growth and quarantine restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has significantly affected the domestic economy. In the second reading, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted amendments to the Code of Ukraine on the Bankruptcy Procedure, which banned moratorium on bankruptcy initiation by the creditors. Thus, there was approved “Draft Law on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts to Regulate Certain Issues of Bankruptcy Procedures for the Period of Implementation of the Measures Aimed at Preventing the Emergence and Spread of the COVID-19 Pandemic” No 4220. This moratorium was introduced in the framework of measures for business support due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Quarantine restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have affected many businesses throughout the world. First of all, this is due to strict quarantine measures imposed by the governments of many countries: closure of shopping and entertainment centers, a ban on all public events, restrictions on the movement both within the country and when crossing its borders, reduction of production (due to the establishment of limits for the simultaneous stay of workers in one room), etc. Quarantine has ruined consumer sentiment and almost halted several industries including retail, hotel and restaurant business, air travel. The amount of budget revenues has decreased. As a result of quarantine, Ukrainian companies have frozen investments and production chains, and some of them are on the verge of bankruptcy. The main economic sign of bankruptcy is reduced to a single point. It is inability of the enterprise to meet the requirements of creditors. However, in order to avoid numerous bankruptcies on insignificant debts, the minimum amount of debt is determined, at which a bankruptcy case can be initiated. Macroeconomic efficiency of the institution of bankruptcy directly depends on the systemic nature of the relevant fragment of the national legislation, availability of the detailed representative economic statistics and the level of conceptual development of effective anti-crisis regulation. At the level of microeconomics, bankruptcy means not just stopping the local production process, i.e. the loss of a sustainable source of permanent income and social security. And at the level of macroeconomics there is the opposite situation; bankruptcy means rehabilitation of production from inefficient forms of its organization and inefficient management, overcoming cyclical recession and modernization of the technological base of production. A modern approach to the study of bankruptcy is associated with the definition of objective economic signs of corporate bankruptcy and specific signs of financial insolvency of the enterprise, assessment of the effectiveness of basic legal procedures for bankruptcy (supervision, external management, bankruptcy proceedings, and amicable settlement). Financial preconditions for insolvency and bankruptcy of the enterprise are analyzed in accordance with Methodical recommendations on detection of signs of insolvency of the enterprise and signs of concealment of bankruptcy, fictitious bankruptcy or bringing to bankruptcy; Methodology of in-depth analysis of the financial and economic condition of insolvent enterprises and organizations. Financial statements are the sources of information for analysis and detection of signs of bankruptcy. To predict the risk of bankruptcy, it is necessary to be guided by regulatory sources, data of accounting, statistical, operational accounting and reporting. Necessary information can also be obtained from documentary inspections, audits, orders, directives, economic and legal materials (contracts). To study the results of financial and economic activities of the object of study there can be used accounting data, which contains extensive analytical information. According to primary documents, it is possible to establish the causes of overspending, payment of fines, perpetrators, determine the legality and appropriateness of business transactions. The main sign of bankruptcy is inability of the company to comply with creditors’ claims within three months from the date of payment. After this period, creditors have the right to apply to the arbitral tribunal to declare the debtor company a bankrupt. Bankruptcy is the result of interaction of internal and external factors. Due to the limitations of the COVID-19 pandemic, 1/3 of the business destruction is associated with internal factors and 2/3 with external factors. Bankruptcy characterizes realization of catastrophic risks of the enterprise in the course of its financial activity, as a result of which it is unable to meet the requirements set by creditors and meet obligations to the budget. Among a wide range of methods used to determine the characteristics of various phenomena and processes, to identify the features of development, to study the dynamics of changes at the enterprises under conditions of the threat and development of crisis, there can be distinguished the main ones: expert (expert assessments); research and statistical; analytical; method of analogues. The whole set of methods for assessing the state of the enterprise is based on three main approaches, which include: the use of a system of indicators and informal indicators (criteria and features); setting the maximum number of indicators in different areas of the enterprise; creation of a separate system of integrated indicators. In the practice of analysis and assessment of the enterprise state the most common approach is the one that involves the use of a system of indicators and informal indicators. Integrated factor models developed using multidimensional multiplicative analysis are often used to assess the probability of bankruptcy and the level of creditworthiness of the enterprise. Bankruptcy forecasting methods based on the use of financial ratios are as follows: Two- and five-factor models for estimating the probability of bankruptcy based on Altman’s “Z-score”; Model of Roman Lis, W. Beaver; Method of rating assessment of financial condition (rating number); R – bankruptcy risk prediction; Taffler’s prediction model; Fulmer’s model; Springgate model; Generalized model developed on the basis of discriminant function; PAS-ratio. Integrated factor models of E. Altman, Lis, Taffler, Tishau and others are often used to assess the probability of bankruptcy and the level of creditworthiness of the enterprise (Table 1), developed using multidimensional multiplicative analysis.