Business failure prediction models with high and stable predictive power over time using genetic programming

Abstract This study focuses on the deterioration of the predictive power and the analysis of the predictive stability of business failure prediction models, an aspect not sufficiently analysed in previous research. Insolvency prediction is considered with three temporal horizons (1 year, 3 years and 5 years prior to failure). The Genetic Programming (GP) tool has been used to achieve prediction models with high performance and stability over time, considering a long post-learning period in the stability analysis. In addition, novel scenarios representative of actual model use are proposed and considered, as well as metrics to assess the deterioration of the models’ predictive power. The optimised GP prediction models (in the three temporal horizons) present a higher performance with respect to external references and, more importantly in relation to the objective of our study, the selected GP models substantially improve on the stability reported in previous studies, meeting the pursued requirements of degree of deterioration (less than 5%) and stability (Pearson’s coefficient of variation less than 5%). Thus, the predictions of the GP models after the learning are very stable (period 2008–2019), to a certain extent immune, with respect to their environment, responding adequately in both procyclical and countercyclical modes, all of which is particularly relevant as this period includes a strong recession and a strong recovery. This should help to increase the reliability of business failure prediction models. Moreover, the relevance of including variables other than the usual financial ratios as predictors of failure is confirmed.