Definition of Debt

Debt

Money borrowed.

Debt

Borrowings from financiers.

Debt

Funds owed to another entity.

Debt/equity ratio

Indicator of financial leverage. Compares assets provided by creditors to assets provided
by shareholders. Determined by dividing long-term debt by common stockholder equity.

Debt capacity

Ability to borrow. The amount a firm can borrow up to the point where the firm value no
longer increases.

Debt displacement

The amount of borrowing that leasing displaces. Firms that do a lot of leasing will be
forced to cut back on borrowing.

Debt instrument

An asset requiring fixed dollar payments, such as a government or corporate bond.

Debt leverage

The amplification of the return earned on equity when an investment or firm is financed
partially with borrowed money.

Debt limitation

A bond covenant that restricts in some way the firm's ability to incur additional indebtedness.

Debt market

The market for trading debt instruments.

Debt ratio

Total debt divided by total assets.

Debt relief

Reducing the principal and/or interest payments on LDC loans.

Debt securities

IOUs created through loan-type transactions - commercial paper, bank CDs, bills, bonds, and
other instruments.

Debt service

Interest payment plus repayments of principal to creditors, that is, retirement of debt.

Debt service parity approach

An analysis wherein the alternatives under consideration will provide the firm
with the exact same schedule of after-tax debt payments (including both interest and principal).

Debt-service coverage ratio

Earnings before interest and income taxes plus one-third rental charges, divided
by interest expense plus one-third rental charges plus the quantity of principal repayments divided by one
minus the tax rate.

Debt swap

A set of transactions (also called a debt-equity swap) in which a firm buys a country's dollar bank
debt at a discount and swaps this debt with the central bank for local currency that it can use to acquire local
equity.

Debtor in possession

A firm that is continuing to operate under Chapter 11 bankruptcy process.

Debtor-in-possession financing

New debt obtained by a firm during the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process.

Firm's net value of debt

Total firm value minus total firm debt.

Funded debt

debt maturing after more than one year.

Interest rate on debt

The firm's cost of debt capital.

Junior debt (subordinate debt)

debt whose holders have a claim on the firm's assets only after senior
debtholder's claims have been satisfied. Subordinated debt.

Long-term debt

An obligation having a maturity of more than one year from the date it was issued. Also
called funded debt.

Long-term debt/capitalization

Indicator of financial leverage. Shows long-term debt as a proportion of the
capital available. Determined by dividing long-term debt by the sum of long-term debt, preferred stock and
common stockholder equity.

Long-term debt ratio

The ratio of long-term debt to total capitalization.

Long-term debt to equity ratio

A capitalization ratio comparing long-term debt to shareholders' equity.

Original issue discount debt (OID debt)

debt that is initially offered at a price below par.

Secured debt

debt that, in the event of default, has first claim on specified assets.

Senior debt

debt that, in the event of bankruptcy, must be repaid before subordinated debt receives any payment.

Structured debt

debt that has been customized for the buyer, often by incorporating unusual options.

Subordinated debt

debt over which senior debt takes priority. In the event of bankruptcy, subordinated
debtholders receive payment only after senior debt claims are paid in full.

Total debt to equity ratio

A capitalization ratio comparing current liabilities plus long-term debt to
shareholders' equity.

Trade debt

Accounts payable.

Unfunded debt

debt maturing within one year (short-term debt). See: funded debt.

Unsecured debt

debt that does not identify specific assets that can be taken over by the debtholder in case of default.

RATIO OF DEBT TO STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

A ratio that shows which group—creditors or stockholders—has the biggest stake in or the most control of a company:
(Total liabilities) / (Stockholders’ equity)

Debtors

Sales to customers who have bought goods or services on credit but who have not yet paid their debt.

Bad debts

The amount of accounts receivable that is not expected to be collected.

bad debts

Refers to accounts receivable from credit sales to customers
that a business will not be able to collect (or not collect in full). In hindsight,
the business shouldn’t have extended credit to these particular
customers. Since these amounts owed to the business will not be collected,
they are written off. The accounts receivable asset account is
decreased by the estimated amount of uncollectible receivables, and the
bad debts expense account is increased this amount. These write-offs
can be done by the direct write-off method, which means that no
expense is recorded until specific accounts receivable are identified as
uncollectible. Or the allowance method can be used, which is based on
an estimated percent of bad debts from credit sales during the period.
Under this method, a contra asset account is created (called allowance
for bad debts) and the balance of this account is deducted from the
accounts receivable asset account.

debt-to-equity ratio

A widely used financial statement ratio to assess the
overall debt load of a business and its capital structure, it equals total liabilities
divided by total owners’ equity. Both numbers for this ratio are
taken from a business’s latest balance sheet. There is no standard, or
generally agreed on, maximum ratio, such as 1:1 or 2:1. Every industry
is different in this regard. Some businesses, such as financial institutions,
have very high debt-to-equity ratios. In contrast, many businesses
use very little debt relative to their owners’ equity.

Cost of Debt

The cost of debt (bonds, loans, etc.) that a company is charged for
borrowing funds. A component of the cost of capital.

Debt Ratio

The percentage of debt that is used in the total capitalization of a
company. It is calculated by dividing the total book value of the
debt by the book value of all assets.

Total Debt to Total Assets Ratio

See debt ratio

Allowance for bad debts

An offset to the accounts receivable balance, against which
bad debts are charged. The presence of this allowance allows one to avoid severe
changes in the period-to-period bad debt expense by expensing a steady amount to
the allowance account in every period, rather than writing off large bad debts to
expense on an infrequent basis.

Bad debt

An account receivable that cannot be collected.

Long-term debt

A debt for which payments will be required for a period of more than
one year into the future.

funded debt

debt with more than 1 year remaining to maturity.

MM's proposition I (debt irrelevance proposition)

The value of a firm is unaffected by its capital structure.

secured debt

debt that has first claim on specified collateral in the event of default.

subordinated debt

debt that may be repaid in bankruptcy only after senior debt is paid.

Debt Instrument

Any financial asset corresponding to a debt, such as a bond or a treasury bill.

Monetizing the Debt

See printing money.

National Debt

The debt owed by the government as a result of earlier borrowing to finance budget deficits. That part of the debt not held by the central bank is the publically held national debt.

Public Debt

See national debt.

Publicly Held National Debt

See national debt.

Debt Security

A security representing a debt relationship with an enterprise, including a government
security, municipal security, corporate bond, convertible debt issue, and commercial
paper.

Debt Capacity

An assessment of ability and willingness to repay a loan from anticipated future cash flow or other sources.

Debt Financing

Raising loan capital through the creation of debt by issuing a form of paper evidencing amounts owed and payable on specified dates or on demand.

Debt/Equity Ratio

A comparison of debt to equity in a company's capital structure.

Long Term Debt

Liability due in a year or more.

Mezzanine Debt

Refers to non-conventional debt that has a greater element of risk than secured debt but has less risk than equity.

Senior Debt

Are debt instruments that provide financing, take primary security against either specific or all assets of the borrower, have fixed terms of repayment and charge fixed or floating interest rates.

Subordinated Debt

debt instruments that provide financing for acquisitions, expansion and restructuring, take secondary security against assets, have fixed or flexible terms of repayment and charge fixed or floating interest rates.

Debt (Credit Insurance)

Money, goods or services that someone is obligated to pay someone else in accordance with an expressed or implied agreement. debt may or may not be secured.

Agency cost view

The argument that specifies that the various agency costs create a complex environment in
which total agency costs are at a minimum with some, but less than 100%, debt financing.

Asset-coverage test

A bond indenture restriction that permits additional borrowing on if the ratio of assets to
debt does not fall below a specified minimum.

Asset for asset swap

Creditors exchange the debt of one defaulting borrower for the debt of another
defaulting borrower.

Asset substitution

A firm's investing in assets that are riskier than those that the debtholders expected.

Asset substitution problem

Arises when the stockholders substitute riskier assets for the firm's existing
assets and expropriate value from the debtholders.

Baker Plan

A plan by U.S. Treasury Secretary James Baker under which 15 principal middle-income debtor
countries (the Baker 15) would undertake growth-oriented structural reforms, to be supported by increased
financing from the World Bank and continued lending from commercial banks.

Bankruptcy

State of being unable to pay debts. Thus, the ownership of the firm's assets is transferred from
the stockholders to the bondholders.

Bankruptcy cost view

The argument that expected indirect and direct bankruptcy costs offset the other
benefits from leverage so that the optimal amount of leverage is less than 100% debt finaning.

Bankruptcy risk

The risk that a firm will be unable to meet its debt obligations. Also referred to as default or insolvency risk.

Bankruptcy view

The argument that expected bankruptcy costs preclude firms from being financed entirely
with debt.

Best-interests-of-creditors test

The requirement that a claim holder voting against a plan of reorganization
must receive at least as much as he would have if the debtor were liquidated.

Bond

Bonds are debt and are issued for a period of more than one year. The U.S. government, local
governments, water districts, companies and many other types of institutions sell bonds. When an investor
buys bonds, he or she is lending money. The seller of the bond agrees to repay the principal amount of the
loan at a specified time. Interest-bearing bonds pay interest periodically.

Bond agreement

A contract for privately placed debt.

Book value

A company's book value is its total assets minus intangible assets and liabilities, such as debt. A
company's book value might be more or less than its market value.

Brady bonds

Bonds issued by emerging countries under a debt reduction plan.

Capital market

The market for trading long-term debt instruments (those that mature in more than one year).

Capital market imperfections view

The view that issuing debt is generally valuable but that the firm's
optimal choice of capital structure is a dynamic process that involves the other views of capital structure (net
corporate/personal tax, agency cost, bankruptcy cost, and pecking order), which result from considerations of
asymmetric information, asymmetric taxes, and transaction costs.

Capital structure

The makeup of the liabilities and stockholders' equity side of the balance sheet, especially
the ratio of debt to equity and the mixture of short and long maturities.

Capitalization

The debt and/or equity mix that fund a firm's assets.

Capitalization ratios

Also called financial leverage ratios, these ratios compare debt to total capitalization
and thus reflect the extent to which a corporation is trading on its equity. Capitalization ratios can be
interpreted only in the context of the stability of industry and company earnings and cash flow.

Capitalization table

A table showing the capitalization of a firm, which typically includes the amount of
capital obtained from each source - long-term debt and common equity - and the respective capitalization
ratios.

CARDs

Certificates of Amortized Revolving debt. Pass-through securities backed by credit card receivables.

Closed-end mortgage

Mortgage against which no additional debt may be issued.

Coinsurance effect

Refers to the fact that the merger of two firms decreases the probability of default on
either firm's debt.

Commercial risk

The risk that a foreign debtor will be unable to pay its debts because of business events,
such as bankruptcy.

Comparative credit analysis

A method of analysis in which a firm is compared to others that have a desired
target debt rating in order to infer an appropriate financial ratio target.

Completion undertaking

An undertaking either (1) to complete a project such that it meets certain specified
performance criteria on or before a certain specified date or (2) to repay project debt if the completion test
cannot be met.

Composition

Voluntary arrangement to restructure a firm's debt, under which payment is reduced.

Corporate bonds

debt obligations issued by corporations.

Corporate tax view

The argument that double (corporate and individual) taxation of equity returns makes
debt a cheaper financing method.

Country financial risk

The ability of the national economy to generate enough foreign exchange to meet
payments of interest and principal on its foreign debt.

Coverage ratios

Ratios used to test the adequacy of cash flows generated through earnings for purposes of
meeting debt and lease obligations, including the interest coverage ratio and the fixed charge coverage ratio.

Credit risk

The risk that an issuer of debt securities or a borrower may default on his obligations, or that the
payment may not be made on a negotiable instrument. Related: Default risk

Cross default

A provision under which default on one debt obligation triggers default on another debt
obligation.

Current liabilities

Amount owed for salaries, interest, accounts payable and other debts due within 1 year.

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