Financial Health & Corporate Performance of Listed Manufacturing Companies in Hong Kong & Singapore: A Comparative Study of the Two Asian Tigers

Authors

  • See Liang Foo

Keywords:

Financial Health, Corporate Performance, Manufacturing, Altman Z-Score, Return on Equity

Abstract

Hong Kong and Singapore are two leading economies in Asia Pacific. This study examines the relationship between the financial health, as measured by the Altman Z-Score, and corporate performance, as measured by the Return on Equity (ROE), of listed manufacturing companies in these two markets. A linear regression was conducted between these variables to determine the magnitude and direction of their relationships. The trends of Z-Scores over a fourteen-year period are also analyzed. The analysis covers the period from 2000 to 2013(inclusive) and yielded a statistically positive correlation between ROE and the Z-Score for both markets. Singapore and Hong Kong both registered moderate-to-high mean and median Z-Scores. However, Hong Kong is comparatively healthier.  These findings further support the economic stature of these two markets as Asian tigers.

 

References

Agarwal, V., & Taffler, R. J. “Twenty-five years of the Taffler Z-Score model: Does it really have predictive ability?â€, Accounting and Business Research, vol. 37, no. 4, pp285-300, 2007.

Altman, E. I., “Financial Ratios, Discriminant Analysis and The Prediction of Corporate Bankruptcyâ€, The Journal of Finance, vol. 23, no. 4, pp589-609, 1968.

Altman, E. I., “Accounting implications of failure prediction modelsâ€, The Journal of Accountancy, vol. 6, no. 1, pp4-19, 1982.

Altman, E. I., “Revisiting credit scoring models in a Basel 2 environmentâ€, Lecture at National Taiwan University. 2007. Available: www.fin.ntu.edu.tw/~hwangdar/94emba19.ppt,

Altman, E. I., & McGough, “T. P. Evaluation of a company as a going-concernâ€, The Journal of Accountancy, vol. 143, pp50-57, 1974.

Aziz, M. A., & Dar, H. A. “Predicting corporate bankruptcy: where we stand?â€, Corporate Governance, vol. 6, no. 1, pp18-33, 2006.

Beaver, W. H., “Financial ratios as predictors of failureâ€, Journal of Accounting Research, vol. 4, pp71 - 111, 1966.

Beynon, M. J., & Peel, M. J., “Variable precision rough set theory and data discretisation: An application to corporate failure predictionâ€, Omega, vol. 29, pp561-576, 2001.

Blum, M. P., “Failing company discriminant analysisâ€, Journal of Accounting Research, vol. 12, no. 1, pp1-25, 1974.

Calandro Jr, J., “Considering the utility of Altman's Z-Score as a strategic assessment and performance management toolâ€, Strategy & Leadership, vol. 35, no. 5, pp37-43, 2007.

Chen, M. C., Cheng, S. J., & Hwang, Y. “An empirical investigation of the relationship between intellectual capital and firms’ market value and financial performanceâ€, Journal of Intellectual Capital, vol. 6, no. 2, pp159-176, 2005.

Chen, S., & Dodd, J. L., “Economic Value Added (EVA): An Empirical Examination of a New Corporate Performance Measureâ€, Journal of Managerial Issues, vol. 9, no. 3, pp318-333, 1997.

Chung, K. C., Tan, S. S., & Holdsworth, D. K., “Insolvency prediction model using multivariate discriminant analysis and artificial neural network for the finance industry in New Zealandâ€, International Journal of Business and Management, vol. 3, no. 1, pp19-29, 2008.

Cohen, B., “Urbanization in developing countries: Current trends, future projections, and key challenges for sustainabilityâ€, Technology in Society, vol. 28, pp69, 2006.

Damodaran, A., “Return on Capital (ROC), Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) and Return on Equity (ROE): Measurement and Implicationsâ€, Stern School of Business. Available: http://people.stern.nyu.edu/adamodar/pdfiles/papers/returnmeasures.pdf, pp11, 2007.

Deakin, E. B., “Business failure prediction: An empirical analysisâ€, In E. Altman, & A. Sametz (Eds.), “Financial crises: Institutions and markets in a fragile environmentâ€, New York: John Wiley, pp28, 1977.

Frydman, H. E., Altman, E. I., & Kao, D. G., “Introducing Recursive Partitioning for Financial Classification: The Case of Financial Distressâ€, Journal of Finance, vol. 40, no. 1, pp269-291, 1985.

Gunathilaka, C., “Financial Distress Prediction: A Comparative Study of Solvency Test and Z-Score Models with Reference to Sri Lankaâ€, The IUP Journal of Financial Risk Management, vol. 11, no. 3, pp39-51, 2014.

Hagel, J., & D, J., “The Best Way to Measure Company Performance – HBRâ€, Available: https://hbr.org/2010/03/the-best-way-to-measure-compan.html, 2010.

Koh, H. C., & Killough, L. N., “The use of multiple discriminant analysis in the assessment of the going concern status of an audit clientâ€, Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, vol. 17, no. 2, pp179-192, 1990.

Levitan, A. S., & Knoblett, J. A., “Indicators of exceptions to the going concern assumptionâ€, Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory (Fall), pp26-39, 1985.

Meric, I., Lentz, C., Li, S., & Meric, G., “A Comparison of the Financial Characteristics of Hong Kong and Singapore Manufacturing Firmsâ€, Global Journal of Business Research, vol. 8, no. 3, pp31-37, 2014.

Neophytou, E., Charitou, A., & Charalambous, C., “Predicting corporate failure: Empirical evidence for the UKâ€, Discussion Paper No. 01-173, March, School of Management, University of Southampton, Southampton, 2001.

Ohlson, J., “Financial Ratios and the Probabilistic Prediction of Bankruptcyâ€, Journal of Accounting Research, vol. 18, no. 1, pp109-131, 1980.

Perez, M., “Artificial neural networks and bankruptcy forecasting: a state of the artâ€, Neural Computer & Application, vol. 15, pp154-163, 2006.

Pradhan, R., “Z Score Estimation for Indian Banking Sectorâ€, International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, vol. 5, no. 6, pp516-520, 2014.

Sherbo, A., & Smith, A., “The Altman Z-Score Bankruptcy Model at Age 45: Standing the Test of Time?â€, ABI Journal, vol. 32, no. 11, pp40-42, 2013.

Stowe, J. D., Robinson, T. R., Pinto, J. E., & McLeavey, D. W., “Analysis of Equity Investments: Valuationâ€, Baltimore, MD: Association for Investment Management and Research (AIMR), 2002.

Thai, S., Goh, H., Teh, B., Wong, J., & Ong, T., “A Revisited of Altman Z- Score Model for Companies Listed in Bursa Malaysiaâ€, International Journal of Business and Social Science, vol. 5, no. 12, pp197-207, 2014.

Trippi, R. R., & Turban, E., “Neural networks in finance and investing: using artificial intelligence to improve real-world performanceâ€, (pp. 367-394). London: IRWIN Professional Publishing, pp367-394, 1996.

Wang, Y., & Campbell, M., “Business Failure Prediction For Publicly Listed Companies In Chinaâ€, Journal of Business and Management, vol. 16, no. 1, 75-88, 2010.

Wang, Y., & Campbell, M., “Do Bankruptcy Models Really Have Predictive Ability? Evidence Using China Publicly Listed Companiesâ€, International Management Review, vol. 6, no. 2, 77, 2010.

Zhao, Y., “The Relationship between Share Price Gains, Corporate Performance and Riskâ€, OALib Journal. Available: http://www.oalib.com/paper/2993772 pp110-112, 2013.

Downloads

Published

2015-04-14

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Financial Health & Corporate Performance of Listed Manufacturing Companies in Hong Kong & Singapore: A Comparative Study of the Two Asian Tigers. (2015). Asian Journal of Business and Management, 3(2). https://ajouronline.com/index.php/AJBM/article/view/2451

Similar Articles

1-10 of 108

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.