Determinants of Financial Distress in Firms: An Empirical Study in the Cameroonian Context

The aim of this article is to identify the determinants of financial distress among firms in the Cameroonian context. To achieve this objective, the study employs an econometric approach based on logistic regression and Altman’s Z-score adapted for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The analysis is based on a sample of 470 firms observed over the period 2020–2023 and incorporates eleven explanatory variables drawn from the corporate finance literature. The empirical results show that profitability, liquidity, asset turnover, firm size, and asset tangibility significantly influence the probability of financial distress. The study also reveals heterogeneity according to firm size, with SMEs appearing more vulnerable to financial constraints than large firms. These findings confirm the relevance of classical failure prediction models in emerging economies.