Designing an If–then Rules‐based Ensemble of Heterogeneous Bankruptcy Classifiers: A Genetic Algorithm Approach

SUMMARY This paper proposes a framework for an ensemble bankruptcy classifier that uses if–then rules to combine the outputs from a heterogeneous set of classifiers. A genetic algorithm (GA) induces the rules using an asymmetric, cost‐sensitive fitness function that includes accuracy and misclassification costs. The GA‐based ensemble classifier outperforms individual classifiers and ensemble classifiers generated by other methods. The results of the classifier are in the form of if–then rules. We apply the approach to a balanced dataset and an imbalanced dataset. Both are composed of firms subject to financial distress and cited in the US Securities and Exchange Commission's Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases.