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The overall objective of this research is to analyze the financial condition of failing companies prior to bankruptcy, in comparison with non-failing companies, which are matched on the industry, size, and time-period. The sample consists of 168 SMEs from the wholesale and retail industry, whose financial statements were analyzed for the 2011-2015 period. The analysis is primarily based on the ratio analysis and the models developed for bankruptcy prediction and financial statement manipulation. Mann-Whitney U test is used to compare differences between failing and non-failing SMEs for a set of twenty variables. Research findings indicate that there is a significant difference between failing and non-failing SMEs, especially in accruals, asset quality, leverage, profitability, and liquidity. For the very first time in the transition economy of CEE Bosnia and Herzegovina, the pre-bankruptcy behavior of failing SMEs is analyzed, providing insights into potentially manipulated areas, which represent the main contribution of the research.

The overall objective of this research is to analyze the financial condition of failing companies prior to bankruptcy, in comparison with non-failing companies, which are matched on the industry, size, and time-period. The sample consists of 168 SMEs from the wholesale and retail industry, whose financial statements were analyzed for the 2011-2015 period. The analysis is primarily based on the ratio analysis and the models developed for bankruptcy prediction and financial statement manipulation. Mann-Whitney U test is used to compare differences between failing and non-failing SMEs for a set of twenty variables. Research findings indicate that there is a significant difference between failing and non-failing SMEs, especially in accruals, asset quality, leverage, profitability, and liquidity. For the very first time in the transition economy of CEE Bosnia and Herzegovina, the pre-bankruptcy behavior of failing SMEs is analyzed, providing insights into potentially manipulated areas, which represent the main contribution of the research.