IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/corfin/v45y2017icp540-565.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Covenant violations and dynamic loan contracting

Author

Listed:
  • Freudenberg, Felix
  • Imbierowicz, Björn
  • Saunders, Anthony
  • Steffen, Sascha

Abstract

This paper examines the dynamic allocation of control rights in private debt contracts of firms. We show that a covenant violation in the prior loan contract implies a stigma for borrowers which results in stricter loan contract terms in subsequent new loan contracts. Our analyses reject potentially other explanations such as firm characteristics or agency problems between the lender and firm management, shareholders or public debtholders. After covenant violations in the prior contract, new loans have on average 18bps higher spreads and include more of those covenant types which also have been violated in the prior contract, with tighter thresholds.

Suggested Citation

  • Freudenberg, Felix & Imbierowicz, Björn & Saunders, Anthony & Steffen, Sascha, 2017. "Covenant violations and dynamic loan contracting," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 540-565.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:45:y:2017:i:c:p:540-565
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2017.05.009
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929119917303176
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2017.05.009?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eisfeldt, Andrea L. & Kuhnen, Camelia M., 2013. "CEO turnover in a competitive assignment framework," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(2), pages 351-372.
    2. Hans Degryse & Steven Ongena, 2005. "Distance, Lending Relationships, and Competition," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 231-266, February.
    3. Nikolaev, V. & van Lent, L.A.G.M., 2005. "The Endogeneity Bias in the Relation Between Cost-of-Debt Capital and Corporate Disclosure Policy," Discussion Paper 2005-67, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    4. Roberts, Michael R., 2015. "The role of dynamic renegotiation and asymmetric information in financial contracting," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 61-81.
    5. Demerjian, Peter R. & Owens, Edward L., 2016. "Measuring the probability of financial covenant violation in private debt contracts," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 433-447.
    6. Demerjian, Peter R., 2011. "Accounting standards and debt covenants: Has the “balance sheet approach” led to a decline in the use of balance sheet covenants?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 178-202.
    7. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    8. Besanko, David & Kanatas, George, 1993. "Credit Market Equilibrium with Bank Monitoring and Moral Hazard," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 6(1), pages 213-232.
    9. Obrien, Pc & Bhushan, R, 1990. "Analyst Following And Institutional Ownership," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28, pages 55-76.
    10. Aghion, Philippe & Dewatripont, Mathias & Rey, Patrick, 1994. "Renegotiation Design with Unverifiable Information," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(2), pages 257-282, March.
    11. Nicolae Garleanu & Jeffrey Zwiebel, 2009. "Design and Renegotiation of Debt Covenants," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(2), pages 749-781, February.
    12. Steven N. Kaplan & Per Stromberg, 2001. "Venture Capitalists As Principals: Contracting, Screening, and Monitoring," NBER Working Papers 8202, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Douglas W. Diamond, 1984. "Financial Intermediation and Delegated Monitoring," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 51(3), pages 393-414.
    14. Sumit Agarwal & Itzhak Ben-David & Vincent Yao, 2015. "Collateral Valuation and Borrower Financial Constraints: Evidence from the Residential Real Estate Market," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(9), pages 2220-2240, September.
    15. Broecker, Thorsten, 1990. "Credit-Worthiness Tests and Interbank Competition," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 58(2), pages 429-452, March.
    16. Stiglitz, Joseph E & Weiss, Andrew, 1983. "Incentive Effects of Terminations: Applications to the Credit and Labor Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(5), pages 912-927, December.
    17. Steven N. Kaplan & Per Strömberg, 2003. "Financial Contracting Theory Meets the Real World: An Empirical Analysis of Venture Capital Contracts," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 70(2), pages 281-315.
    18. Sudheer Chava & Michael R. Roberts, 2008. "How Does Financing Impact Investment? The Role of Debt Covenants," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(5), pages 2085-2121, October.
    19. Cem Demiroglu & Christopher M. James, 2010. "The Information Content of Bank Loan Covenants," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(10), pages 3700-3737, October.
    20. Rajan, Raghuram G, 1992. "Insiders and Outsiders: The Choice between Informed and Arm's-Length Debt," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(4), pages 1367-1400, September.
    21. Nikolaev, V. & van Lent, L.A.G.M., 2005. "The Endogeneity Bias in the Relation Between Cost-of-Debt Capital and Corporate Disclosure Policy," Other publications TiSEM 5960a342-0adc-4f85-bf87-2, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    22. Diamond, Douglas W, 1991. "Monitoring and Reputation: The Choice between Bank Loans and Directly Placed Debt," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(4), pages 689-721, August.
    23. Sharpe, Steven A, 1990. "Asymmetric Information, Bank Lending, and Implicit Contracts: A Stylized Model of Customer Relationships," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(4), pages 1069-1087, September.
    24. Philippe Aghion & Patrick Bolton, 1992. "An Incomplete Contracts Approach to Financial Contracting," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 59(3), pages 473-494.
    25. Valeri V. Nikolaev, 2015. "Outside Blockholders' Monitoring of Management and Debt Financing: An Alternative Perspective," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(4), pages 1405-1412, December.
    26. Scott Liao, 2015. "Outside Blockholders' Monitoring of Management and Debt Financing," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(4), pages 1373-1404, December.
    27. Zender, Jaime F, 1991. "Optimal Financial Instruments," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(5), pages 1645-1663, December.
    28. Mathias Dewatripont & Jean Tirole, 1994. "A Theory of Debt and Equity: Diversity of Securities and Manager-Shareholder Congruence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(4), pages 1027-1054.
    29. Samir El†Gazzar & Victor Pastena, 1991. "Factors affecting the scope and initial tightness of covenant restrictions in private lending agreements," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(1), pages 132-151, September.
    30. Beatty, Anne & Weber, Joseph & Yu, Jeff Jiewei, 2008. "Conservatism and Debt," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2-3), pages 154-174, August.
    31. Petersen, Mitchell A & Rajan, Raghuram G, 1994. "The Benefits of Lending Relationships: Evidence from Small Business Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(1), pages 3-37, March.
    32. Flannery, Mark J, 1994. "Debt Maturity and the Deadweight Cost of Leverage: Optimally Financing Banking Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(1), pages 320-331, March.
    33. Berlin, Mitchell & Mester, Loretta J., 1992. "Debt covenants and renegotiation," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 95-133, June.
    34. Justin Murfin, 2012. "The Supply-Side Determinants of Loan Contract Strictness," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(5), pages 1565-1601, October.
    35. Degryse, Hans & Van Cayseele, Patrick, 2000. "Relationship Lending within a Bank-Based System: Evidence from European Small Business Data," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 90-109, January.
    36. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    37. Berger, Allen N & Udell, Gregory F, 1995. "Relationship Lending and Lines of Credit in Small Firm Finance," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 68(3), pages 351-381, July.
    38. Anna M. Costello & Regina Wittenberg‐Moerman*, 2011. "The Impact of Financial Reporting Quality on Debt Contracting: Evidence from Internal Control Weakness Reports," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(1), pages 97-136, March.
    39. Sweeney, Amy Patricia, 1994. "Debt-covenant violations and managers' accounting responses," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 281-308, May.
    40. Hans B. Christensen & Valeri V. Nikolaev, 2012. "Capital Versus Performance Covenants in Debt Contracts," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 75-116, March.
    41. Roberts, Michael R. & Sufi, Amir, 2009. "Renegotiation of financial contracts: Evidence from private credit agreements," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(2), pages 159-184, August.
    42. Denis, David J. & Wang, Jing, 2014. "Debt covenant renegotiations and creditor control rights," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(3), pages 348-367.
    43. Anthony Saunders & Sascha Steffen, 2011. "The Costs of Being Private: Evidence from the Loan Market," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(12), pages 4091-4122.
    44. Nini, Greg & Smith, David C. & Sufi, Amir, 2009. "Creditor control rights and firm investment policy," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(3), pages 400-420, June.
    45. Steven Drucker & Manju Puri, 2009. "On Loan Sales, Loan Contracting, and Lending Relationships," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(7), pages 2635-2672, July.
    46. Vasso Ioannidou & Steven Ongena, 2010. "“Time for a Change”: Loan Conditions and Bank Behavior when Firms Switch Banks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(5), pages 1847-1877, October.
    47. Hollander, Stephan & Verriest, Arnt, 2016. "Bridging the gap: the design of bank loan contracts and distance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(2), pages 399-419.
    48. Ryan Ball & Robert M. Bushman & Florin P. Vasvari, 2008. "The Debt‐Contracting Value of Accounting Information and Loan Syndicate Structure," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 247-287, May.
    49. Steven Drucker & Manju Puri, 2005. "On the Benefits of Concurrent Lending and Underwriting," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(6), pages 2763-2799, December.
    50. Ilia D. Dichev & Douglas J. Skinner, 2002. "Large–Sample Evidence on the Debt Covenant Hypothesis," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(4), pages 1091-1123, September.
    51. Huberman, Gur & Kahn, Charles M, 1988. "Limited Contract Enforcement and Strategic Renegotiation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(3), pages 471-484, June.
    52. DeFond, Mark L. & Jiambalvo, James, 1994. "Debt covenant violation and manipulation of accruals," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1-2), pages 145-176, January.
    53. Nikolaev, V. & van Lent, L.A.G.M., 2005. "The endogeneity bias in the relation between cost-of-debt capital and corporate disclosure policy," Other publications TiSEM 04869b30-e8a9-4ecf-84ae-6, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    54. Michael R. Roberts & Amir Sufi, 2009. "Control Rights and Capital Structure: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(4), pages 1657-1695, August.
    55. Valeri Nikolaev & Laurence van Lent, 2005. "The endogeneity bias in the relation between cost-of-debt capital and corporate disclosure policy," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(4), pages 677-724.
    56. Erik Berglöf & Ernst-Ludwig von Thadden, 1994. "Short-Term versus Long-Term Interests: Capital Structure with Multiple Investors," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(4), pages 1055-1084.
    57. Greg Nini & David C. Smith & Amir Sufi, 2012. "Creditor Control Rights, Corporate Governance, and Firm Value," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(6), pages 1713-1761.
    58. Rajan, Raghuram & Winton, Andrew, 1995. "Covenants and Collateral as Incentives to Monitor," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(4), pages 1113-1146, September.
    59. Steven N. Kaplan & Per Stromberg, 2001. "Venture Capitals As Principals: Contracting, Screening, and Monitoring," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 426-430, May.
    60. Mark J. Garmaise, 2015. "Borrower Misreporting and Loan Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(1), pages 449-484, February.
    61. Smith, Clifford Jr. & Warner, Jerold B., 1979. "On financial contracting : An analysis of bond covenants," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 117-161, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shu Feng & Chang Liu & Xiaoling Pu, 2022. "Connected Lending in Bank Lines of Credit," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 61(2), pages 187-216, April.
    2. Rustom M. Irani & Ralf R. Meisenzahl, 2015. "Loan Sales and Bank Liquidity Risk Management: Evidence from a U.S. Credit Register," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2015-1, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    3. Abad, Pilar & Díaz, Antonio & Escribano, Ana & Robles, M.-Dolores, 2021. "Crossing boundaries beyond the investment grade: Induced trading by rating-contingent investment constraints," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    4. Li, Mingming & Liu, Haiming & Chiang, Yao-Min, 2022. "Government intervention, leverage adjustment, and firm performance: Evidence from defaulting firms," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    5. Daniel Ferreira & Miguel A. Ferreira & Beatriz Mariano, 2018. "Creditor Control Rights and Board Independence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 73(5), pages 2385-2423, October.
    6. Keil, Jan, 2023. "Lending relationships when creditors are in control," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    7. Adam, Tim R. & Streitz, Daniel, 2016. "Hold-up and the use of performance-sensitive debt," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 47-67.
    8. Lim, Jesslyn & Do, Viet & Vu, Tram, 2022. "The effect of lenders’ dual holding on loan contract design: Evidence from performance pricing provisions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    9. Gabriel Chodorow‐Reich & Antonio Falato, 2022. "The Loan Covenant Channel: How Bank Health Transmits to the Real Economy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(1), pages 85-128, February.
    10. Lim, Jesslyn & Do, Viet & Vu, Tram, 2020. "Co-opted directors, covenant intensity, and covenant violations," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    11. Richard Brody & Matias Sokolowski & Reilly White, 2021. "The Potential for Biases in Resolving Loan Problems," International Journal of Finance & Banking Studies, Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 10(3), pages 57-66, July.
    12. Ashrafee Tanvir Hossain & Lawrence Kryzanowski & Xiao Bing Ma, 2020. "U.S. Political Corruption And Loan Pricing," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 43(3), pages 459-489, August.
    13. Umar Butt, 2019. "Debt covenant violation, competition and cost of new debt," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 44(2), pages 163-187, May.
    14. Theophilus Lartey & Albert Danso, 2022. "CEO overconfidence and debt covenant violations," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 45(1), pages 162-199, March.
    15. José Valente & Mário Augusto & José Murteira, 2022. "Bargaining power and renegotiation of small private debt contracts," Annals of Finance, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 485-510, December.
    16. Kariya, Ankitkumar, 2022. "Earnings-based borrowing constraints & corporate investments in 2007–2009 financial crisis," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christensen, Hans B. & Macciocchi, Daniele & Morris, Arthur & Nikolaev, Valeri V., 2022. "Financial shocks to lenders and the composition of financial covenants," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1).
    2. Zhiming Ma & Derrald Stice & Christopher Williams, 2022. "What's my style? Supply‐side determinants of debt covenant inclusion," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(3-4), pages 461-490, March.
    3. Hans B. Christensen & Valeri V. Nikolaev & Regina Wittenberg‐Moerman, 2016. "Accounting Information in Financial Contracting: The Incomplete Contract Theory Perspective," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 397-435, May.
    4. Xu Chong Bo & Wenyi Li & Jing Shi & Yi Zheng & Qing Zhou, 2021. "Relationship lending and bank loan covenant violations," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(4), pages 5847-5878, December.
    5. Wang, Jing, 2017. "Debt covenant design and creditor control rights: Evidence from the tightest covenant," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 331-352.
    6. Nikolaev, Valeri V., 2018. "Scope for renegotiation in private debt contracts," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 270-301.
    7. Peter R. Demerjian, 2017. "Uncertainty and debt covenants," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 1156-1197, September.
    8. Prilmeier, Robert, 2017. "Why do loans contain covenants? Evidence from lending relationships," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 558-579.
    9. Kang, Di & Zhuang, Zhuang, 2019. "Should companies care who their lender is? Evidence from loan covenants," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    10. Isin, Adnan Anil, 2018. "Tax avoidance and cost of debt: The case for loan-specific risk mitigation and public debt financing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 344-378.
    11. Saiying Deng & Yutao Li, 2023. "Creditor control rights and borrower protection: the role of borrower consent clause in private debt contracts," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 61(1), pages 357-394, July.
    12. Keil, Jan, 2023. "Lending relationships when creditors are in control," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    13. Tan, Liang, 2013. "Creditor control rights, state of nature verification, and financial reporting conservatism," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 1-22.
    14. Marcello Pagnini & Paola Rossi & Valerio Vacca & Iftekhar Hasan & Liuling Liu & Haizhi Wang & Xinting Zhen, 2017. "Bank Market Power and Loan Contracts: Empirical Evidence," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 46(3), pages 649-676, November.
    15. Lee, Edward & Pappas, Kostas & Xu, Alice Liang, 2020. "Foreign Lenders’ adoption of performance pricing provisions in syndicated loans," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    16. Armstrong, Christopher S. & Guay, Wayne R. & Weber, Joseph P., 2010. "The role of information and financial reporting in corporate governance and debt contracting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 179-234, December.
    17. Yiwei Dou, 2020. "The Debt-Contracting Value of Accounting Numbers and Financial Covenant Renegotiation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(3), pages 1124-1148, March.
    18. Baylis, Richard M. & Burnap, Peter & Clatworthy, Mark A. & Gad, Mahmoud A. & Pong, Christopher K.M., 2017. "Private lenders’ demand for audit," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 78-97.
    19. Hans B. Christensen & Valeri V. Nikolaev, 2012. "Capital Versus Performance Covenants in Debt Contracts," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 75-116, March.
    20. Berlin, Mitchell & Nini, Greg & Yu, Edison G., 2020. "Concentration of control rights in leveraged loan syndicates," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(1), pages 249-271.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Control rights; Covenant violation; Dynamic loan contracting; Stigma;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:45:y:2017:i:c:p:540-565. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jcorpfin .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.