We examine how accounting-based compensation plans influence a firm's contracts with its creditors. After granting long-term accounting-based compensation plans (LTAPs) to CEOs, firms pay lower spreads and have fewer restrictive covenants in new bank loans. Mechanisms leading to lower borrowing...

We develop a model of managerial compensation structure and asset risk choice. The model provides predictions about how inside debt features affect the relation between credit spreads and compensation components. First, inside debt reduces credit spreads only if it is unsecured. Second, inside...

In this paper, we examine whether the onset of credit default swaps (CDSs) affects a firm's executive compensation. The availability of CDSs allows lenders to transfer credit risk, but not control or monitoring rights, to CDS sellers. Hence, CDS-protected lenders' incentives to monitor borrowing...