Data Envelopment Analysis of Corporate Failure for Non-Manufacturing Firms using a Slacks-Based Model

The purpose of this work was to study the ability of the Slacks-Based Model of Data Envelopment Analysis in the prediction of corporate failure of non-manufacturing companies as compared to Altman's Z" score model. This research looks at non-manufacturing firms specifically and attempts to classify companies without looking at the asset size of the firm. A DEA model based on the Altman's Z" score financial ratios was created as well as a revised DEA model. The overall accuracy of the models showed the revised DEA model to be more accurate than the original DEA model as well as the Altman Z" score. This indicated that bankruptcy could be predicted without the use of total assets or liabilities as variables. This also showed the ability of an SBM DEA model to predict bankruptcy.