As we move forward into the Third Millennium AD the perennial problem of
unmanageable debt is still with us. As if to prove the point, in late
November 1997, the Tokuyo City Bank in Japan closed down its business,
reminding the world that default still stalks families, institutions and
governments. It seems that little has been achieved in handling debt
since 1216 when the Magna Carta limited the actions of bailiffs against
debtors willing and able to make payment. Current literature about
consumer credit, business finance and mortgages reveals the urgent need
to tackle the ethics of borrowing and lending on some commonly
understood and acceptable basis. In this book, the stewardship concept
familiar in accounting, corporate governance, environmental strategy and
Christian social ethics is analyzed to provide a framework. The book
demonstrates that analysis of the concept of stewardship provides a set
of resource-related social values which shed light upon ethical issues
in debt management and enable the construction of a decision support
model to secure improvements in debt management practice.