Introduction
The incentive to manage earnings around a debt-covenant violation originates from the
manager’s compensation contract. This contract is designed to have the lowest possible
agency cost and to address the conflict between the bondholders and the shareholders.
Usually, the firm first chooses the optimal compensation contract based on accounting
numbers to minimize agency costs arising from the separation of ownership (shareholders)
and control (managers). In addition, the managers may have further obligations to maintain
reported values such as the ratio of earnings to total debt above a contractual threshold.
These restrictions, commonly called debt-covenants, are set by the firm’s lenders to reduce