Do going concern disclosures in the management report and audit report signal bankruptcy risk? Evidence from privately held firms

This article provides evidence of the relations between disclosures in the management report of conditions that could challenge the continuance of operations, auditors’ going concern reporting, and the likelihood of bankruptcy for privately held firms in an environment characterized by low litigation risk. We conduct a matched case-control study using data for 125 firms filing for liquidation bankruptcy and 125 non-bankrupt firms. The results show that disclosures in the management report and auditors’ going concern modifications are positively associated with the likelihood of bankruptcy and that their predictive ability is incremental to the control factors. Despite the lower litigation pressure facing private Swedish firms, the informational value of going concern disclosures is comparable with those in litigious environments.