Evidence of the effect of lender financial reporting incentives on debt contract design is sparse. We examine whether regulatory capital adequacy, a first-order reporting concern for banks, is associated with the strictness of financial covenants included in loan contracts. We provide evidence...

This study investigates the effect of the balance sheet approach, where financial reporting focuses on asset and liability valuation, on the usefulness of the capital adequacy ratio in the evaluation of bank default risk by credit rating agencies. We examine Japanese banks, which play the...

I examine the role of financial covenants in private debt contracts. I predict that financial covenants help limit ex ante uncertainty about the borrower's performance - the risk that the borrower will default on the loan - in the contract. I find that covenant inclusion is positively related to...