Research on the Construction of a Financial Crisis Early Warning Model for Listed Companies from the Perspective of ESG: Taking the Lithium Battery Industry as an Example
Main Article Content
Keywords
financial crisis early warning, lithium battery industry, entropy weighting method-logit regression
Abstract
Traditional financial crisis early warning models for listed companies rely predominantly on conventional financial indicators and often overlook ESG risk and its impact on corporate performance. This limitation becomes particularly evident in policy- and regulation-intensive industries such as lithium battery manufacturing, where existing models demonstrate insufficient accuracy. Our study develops a novel dynamic financial crisis early warning model that incorporates ESG factors to increase both precision and predictive power. Using 66 representative lithium battery companies from China’s securities market as research subjects, we select 21 financial metrics across six dimensions: debt repayment capacity, operational efficiency, growth potential, cash flow generation, and ESG performance. Through KMO test validation, 19 indicators were identified as model factors for entropy-weighted logit regression analysis. The findings reveal a significant negative correlation between ESG performance and financial risk. Validation through 30 randomly selected companies with similar ESG ratings demonstrates the model’s reliability, providing actionable insights for lithium battery industry risk management. This research explores theoretical and practical pathways for integrating ESG principles into financial crisis early warning systems, establishing a composite model that combines traditional financial signals with nonfinancial ESG indicators. The proposed framework offers investors, regulators, and corporate managers more forward-looking and comprehensive decision-making support.
References
- Altman, E. I., (1968). Financial ratios, discriminant analysis and the prediction of corporate bankruptcy. The journal of finance, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 589-609.
- Altman, E. I. and Hotchkiss, E., (2021). Corporate financial distress and bankruptcy: Predict and avoid bankruptcy, analyze and invest in distressed debt, (Vol. 289) Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
- Barboza, F., Kimura, H. and Altman, E., (2017). Machine learning models and bankruptcy prediction. Expert systems with applications, vol. 83, pp. 405-417.
- Beaver, W. H., (1966). Financial Ratios As Predictors of Failure. Journal of Accounting Research, vol. 4, pp. 71-111.
- Beaver, W. H., McNichols, M. F. and Rhie, J.-W., (2005). Have financial statements become less informative? Evidence from the ability of financial ratios to predict bankruptcy. Review of Accounting studies, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 93-122.
- Breiman, L., (2001). Random forests. Machine learning, vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 5-32.
- Christensen, B. E., Serafeim, G. and Sikochi, A., (2021). The accounting promise of ESG investing. Available at SSRN 3789935.
- Deakin, E. B., (1976). A note on the comparison of accounting and market based measures of default risk. Journal of Accounting and Economics, vol. 1, no. 13, pp. 275-282.
- Eccles, R. G., Ioannou, I. and Serafeim, G., (2014). The impact of corporate sustainability on organizational processes and performance. Management science, vol. 60, no. 11, pp. 2835-2857.
- El Ghoul, S., Guedhami, O., Kwok, C. C. and Mishra, D. R., (2011). Does corporate social responsibility affect the cost of capital? Journal of banking & finance, vol. 35, no. 9, pp. 2388-2406.
- Friede, G., Busch, T. and Bassen, A., (2015). ESG and financial performance: aggregated evidence from more than 2000 empirical studies. Journal of sustainable finance & investment, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 210-233.
- Grewal, J., Serafeim, G. and Yin, E. L., (2021). The effect of ESG controversies on firm value: Evidence from event studies. Available at SSRN 3865719.
- Huang, C.-L., Chen, M.-C. and Wang, C.-J., (2007). Credit scoring with a data mining approach based on support vector machines. Expert systems with applications, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 847-856.
- Khan, M., Serafeim, G. and Yoon, A., (2016). Corporate sustainability: First evidence on materiality. The accounting review, vol. 91, no. 6, pp. 1697-1724.
- Kim, J., Li, J. and Sun, F., (2013). Pension contributions and earnings quality. Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies, vol. 16, no. 01, p. 1350001.
- Lev, B. and Zarowin, P., (1999). The bounds of earnings quality. Review of Accounting Studies, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 325-357.
- Ohlson, J. A., (1980). Financial ratios and the probabilistic prediction of bankruptcy. Journal of accounting research, pp. 109-131.
- Ohlson, J. A., (1993). Using financial and market information to predict bankruptcy: Some international evidence. Journal of International Financial Management and Accounting, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 1-20.
- Orlitzky, M., Schmidt, F. L. and Rynes, S. L., (2003). Corporate social and financial performance: A meta-analysis. Organization studies, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 403-441.
- Platt, H. D. and Platt, M. B., (1991). A note on the use of logistic regression in business failure prediction. Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 609-616.
- Tam, K. Y. and Kiang, M. Y., (1992). Managerial applications of neural networks: the case of bank failure predictions. Management science, vol. 38, no. 7, pp. 926-947.
- Woznicki, A. and Karpio, K., (2022). Financial distress prediction using ensemble techniques: The case of Polish companies. Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 200, p. 116980.
- Wu, C. F. and Lin, Y. Y., (2024). Current research status and prospects of FinTech. Journal of Management Sciences in China, vol. 27, no. 06, pp. 1-20.
- Zmijewski, M., (1984). Methodological issues related to the estimation of financial distress prediction models. Journal of Accounting Research, vol. 22, pp. 59-82.
