Bankruptcy Risk and Income Smoothing Tendency of NBFIs in Bangladesh

Purpose: The study mainly investigates bankruptcy risk and income smoothing tendency of Non-Banking Financial Institutions (NBFIs) in Bangladesh. External parties of NBFIs take investment decisions based on financial reports. Stable and predictable income is one of their preference. On the other hand, poor income is one of the signs of NBFIs having bankruptcy risk. Hence the study tries to find whether the NBFIs having bankruptcy are involved in income smoothing or not. Research design, data and methodology: Data were collected from the annual report of twenty-two listed NBFIs in Bangladesh. Data from 2013 to 2017 were used. Altman’s Z score and Eckel’s model are used to detecting bankruptcy risk and income smoothing respectively. Results: Result implies that most of the NBFIs which have bankruptcy risk are not involved in income smoothing. Therefore, NBFIs which has bankruptcy risk are involved less with income smoothing. Conclusions: The present study revealed that most of the listed NBFIs in Bangladesh are facing bankruptcy risk. They didn’t use any fraudulent technique to show smooth income. The findings will help the investor to take an investment decision on NBFIs in Bangladesh. It will convey signals to the stock market in Bangladesh