is a debenture an asset or a liability 
this depends on whose perspective is considered as a debt instrument a debenture is a liability for the issuer who is essentially borrowing money via issuing these securities for an investor bondholder owning a debenture is an asset the bottom linedebentures are a common form of unsecured bonds issued by corporations and governments in contrast to secured bonds which are backed by collateral unsecured bonds are relatively riskier since they do not offer any sort of backstop of assets if the issuer defaults they rely solely on the creditworthiness of the issuer strictly speaking a u s treasury bonds are in this way debentures 