We study the dual role of borrowers’ balance sheet conservatism (i.e., conservatism in asset
values) in debt contract design. Conservative asset values reduce lenders’ uncertainty regarding
asset valuation and mitigate debtholder-shareholder conflicts. However, as asset valuation
approaches its lower-bound estimates, it constrains the borrowers’ future ability to take writedowns
in response to bad news. Consistent with these two effects, we find that high balance
sheet conservatism is associated with lower interest and less restrictive covenants for bank loans.
Further, lenders appear to recognize that future conservatism is constrained when balance sheet
conservatism is high. Our results highlight the importance of considering time-series
dependencies of accounting policies in contract design