Fernando Dal-Ri Murcia

Análise do impacto da substituição da DOAR pela DFC: um estudo sob a perspectiva do value-relevance

Over the past 40 years, several studies have discussed the relevance of accounting information. These are the so-called value-relevance studies of accounting information. In these studies, accounting variables are used to try and explain stock price behavior. The focus is to verify, through regression analysis, if certain accounting information has information contents for the capital market. That is the context for this article, which aims to analyze the impact of replacing the SSAF (Statement of Sources and Applications of Funds) by the SCF (Statement of Cash Flows), implemented through changes in Brazilian accounting standards valid for the financial year 2008. Therefore, it analyzes the question about the value relevance of the operational sources of funds (ORO) from SSAF and operating cash flow (FCO) from the SCF, for the years 2005 to 2007, of non-financial publicly-traded corporations listed in the database Melhores e Maiores of FIPECAFI-EXAME. Empirical evidence supports that the replacement of the SSAF by the SCF was beneficial for accounting information users in Brazil, although previous studies have pointed to the SSAF as a richer statement in terms of information, i.e. a statement that allows ursers to extract more information. A plausible explanation for this finding is that the SCF is na easier to understand and more user-friendly statement, especially for users who are less familiar with accounting, so that it is more used.

Discretionary-Based Disclosure: Evidence from the Brazilian Market

The primary objective of this paper is to identify the factors that explain Brazilian companies’ level of voluntary disclosure. Underpinning this work is the Discretionary-based Disclosure theory. The sample is composed of the top 100 largest non-financial companies listed in the Bolsa de Valores de Sao Paulo (Brazilian Securities, Commodities, and Futures exchange - BOVESPA). Information was gathered from Financial Statements for the years ending in 2006, 2007, and 2008, with the use of content analysis. A disclosure framework based on 27 studies from these years was created, with a total of 92 voluntary items divided into two dimensions: economic (43) and socio-environmental (49). Based on the existing literature, a total of 12 hypotheses were elaborated and tested using a panel data approach. Results evidence that: (a) Sector and Origin of Control are statistically significant in all three models tested: economic, socio-environmental, and total; (b) ‘Profitability’ is relevant in the economic model and in the total model; (c) Tobin’s Q is relevant in the socio-environmental model and in the total disclosure model; (d) Leverage and Auditing Firm are only relevant in the economic disclosure model; (e) Size, Governance, Stock Issuing, Growth Opportunities and Concentration of Control are not statistically significant in any of the three models.

ENSINO E PESQUISA NOS ESTADOS UNIDOS: ALGUMAS CARACTERÍSTICAS DOS PRINCIPAIS PROGRAMAS DE DOUTORADO EM CONTABILIDADE

O presente trabalho busca conhecer algumas caracteristicas dos principais programas de doutorado em contabilidade dos Estados Unidos. Para a selecao da amostra deste estudo, utilizou-se, como base, o ranking divulgado pela revista U.S. News & World Report - Americas Best Graduate Schools in Accounting-2006. Esse ranking lista os 31 principais programas de pos-graduacao em contabilidade nos Estados Unidos. Contudo, para o presente trabalho, 3 dessas universidades foram excluidas, restando para analise um total de 28 universidades. A coleta dos dados foi realizada nos sites eletronicos dos programas selecionados. Buscou-se identificar 4 caracteristicas desses programas de doutorado: criterios do processo seletivo, exigencias para a obtencao do titulo de Ph.D. in Accounting, disciplinas oferecidas e perfil do corpo docente. Os resultados encontrados evidenciam algumas caracteristicas dos programas analisados que podem permitir um benchmarking, possibilitando um crescimento da pesquisa academica brasileira. Nesse sentido, o trabalho contribui para a construcao e o aperfeicoamento da contabilidade, a medida que evidencia possibilidades de melhorias nos programas de pos-graduacao no Brasil.

RELEVÂNCIA DOS RED FLAGS NA AVALIAÇÃO DO RISCO DE FRAUDES NAS DEMONSTRAÇÕES CONTÁBEIS: A PERCEPÇÃO DE AUDITORES INDEPENDENTES BRASILEIROS

The main intention of this communication is to show that throughout the history of Humanity the disciplines of Accounting and Mathematics have had an intimate connection and a parallel development, one next to the other. Today, as well as in the past, the mathematical models are necessary and we would even say indispensable to deepen the discussion, and to be able to advance in our collective intention to formalize our accounting discipline as a science. With the development of this investigation we try to contribute to the improvement of the quality of accounting education, by studying how accounting is taught, and based on this analysis, to promote pertinent changes in the curricula of Public Accountants office, particularly regarding contents, methodologies, bibliography and evaluation . To contribute concrete tools of analyses, that allow the focus of education on mathematical issues in a local, regional and national context, and which in addition may have parameters of evaluation, analysis and synthesis, on the aspects that concern the suitable use of mathematics in the development of the Public Accountant’s daily tasks, in order to improve their processes of analysis and decision making.On the basis of the principles of a global society, a New Economy is emerging. The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an increasingly important topic in the New Economy in general, and in the European Union in particular. Thus, an important role is played by companies’ social responsibility to achieve Lisbon Summit goal “the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world”. The CSR reporting has a triple-bottom line approach in the assessment of a company’s performance: the economic, the environment and the social factors. Mutatis mutandis, more and more the assessment of company’s competitiveness takes into account the principles of sustainability. The link between the intangible assets and CSR is intimate and multifaceted. In order to develop company’s abilities to create future economic value, one step should consist in the expansion of the financial reporting process in order to incorporate the valuation of a company’s intangible and intellectual assets. These mentioned factors have become most important to business success and economic growth in the 21st century.This paper provides an analysis of the financial conditions and activities developed by the construction companies in The Canary Islands during the period 2000-2002. The analyzed sample is composed of 318 companies that were involved in production activities during the period considered. Firstly, a descriptive analysis of the composition of the sample is made, in reference to the age, legal status and nature and conditions of companies that have been audited or not audited. It was also considered advisable to classify the set of economic units based on turnover, assets and the number of workers, in order to obtain a better idea of the size of each company. In order to perform the economic and financial analysis of assets and the activities d carried out by the companies of the sector, we examined balance sheets and the income statements, along with profitability and solvency. In order to complete the analysis and place it in context, we conclude with a reference to the economic framework and expectations of the sector, as well as the competitive position of the Canary Islands construction sector and its future perspectives.This article provides an overall tax analysis of the complexity of the Portuguese tax system. Before discussing whether we should change the way we tax ourselves, it will be useful to compare the Portuguese tax system to other OCDE and European countries. However, the main aim of this study is to discuss the main aspects that make the Portuguese tax system complex and difficult to enforce. Then, in order to simplify the Portuguese tax system, we will focus on economic, administrative and legislative issues that have introduced some kind of complexity in the tax system.

Análise da relação entre as informações contábeis e o risco sistemático no mercado brasileiro

According to the existing literature, accounting information represents an important predictor of a companys future cash flow and serves to assess the risk of stock investments. Because such information reflects the economic and financial reality of a company during a given period, this information relates to the systematic risk of an investment, which justifies the use of the information for decisions related to the composition of a stock portfolio. Within this context, the present study seeks to present empirical evidence on the relationship between accounting information and systematic risk in the Brazilian market. More specifically, the objective is to analyze the relationship between the accounting betas and the market betas of companies in Brazil. For this analysis, 97 companies from 15 economic sectors were selected from the Securities, Commodities, and Futures Exchange of Sao Paulo (Bolsa de Valores, Mercadorias e Futuros de Sao Paulo - BM&FBOVESPA) from the first quarter of 1995 to the third quarter of 2009. A total of 468 accounting variables were used. To operationalize the relationship between the variables, a regression model with panel data was used. One the one hand, the results show that some accounting betas may explain the market beta and do so in an anticipated manner and that these accounting betas are able to improve the prediction of the market beta when used alongside the historical market betas. On the other hand, the majority of accounting beta versions displayed a rather insignificant or even nonexistent relationship.

Determinants of Corporate Voluntary Disclosure in Brazil

The central objective of this paper is to identify the factors that explain the level of voluntary disclosure of Brazilian public companies. The theory underpinning this work is the Discretionary-based Disclosure (Verrecchia, 2001). Sample is composed by the top 100 largest non-financial public companies listed in Bovespa. Information has been gathered from Financial Statements for the years ended in 2006, 2007 and 2008 with the use of content analysis. For these, a disclosure framework based on 27 studies has been elaborated. This framework contains a total of 92 voluntary items, divided in two dimensions: economic (43), social-environmental (49). Based on the existing literature, a total of 12 hypotheses have been elaborated and tested using a panel data approach. We have also analyzed the association between voluntary disclosure and company’s sector, which has been confirmed by the Chi-square test at a significance level of 1%. Correspondence Analysis, by means of the perceptual map, has evidenced that (i) retail sector is associated with a ‘bad’ level of disclosure and (ii) electric sector is associated with a ‘good’ and ‘great’ level of voluntary disclosure. Panel data analysis has evidence that: (i) ‘Sector’ and ‘Origin of Control’ are statically significant in all three models tested: economic, social-environmental, and total; (ii) ‘Profitability’ is relevant in the economic model and in the total model; (iii) Tobin’s Q is relevant in the social-environmental model and in the total disclosure model, (iv) ‘Leverage’ and ‘Auditing Firm’ are relevant, only, in the economic disclosure model; (v) ‘Size’, ‘Governance’, ‘Stock Issuing’, ‘Growth Opportunities’ and ‘Concentration of Control’ are not statistically significant in any of the three models of disclosure.

Análise da relevância do ebitda versus fluxo de caixa operacional no mercado brasileiro de capitais

O presente estudo teve por objetivo central analisar a relevância, dentro da perspectiva do value relevance, do EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization). Concomitantemente, como objetivo secundario, busca-se comparar a relevância desse indicador, que e uma informacao de carater nao obrigatorio, de acordo com as normas contabeis brasileiras (nongaap information), com o Fluxo de Caixa Operacional (FCO), informacao essa obrigatoria e normatizada pelo CPC 03 – Demonstracao dos Fluxos de Caixa. Para tanto, o presente estudo, descritivo e explicativo, de abordagem empirico-positivista, recorreu a analise regressao (pooling). A amostra foi composta de empresas nao financeiras de capital aberto; sendo para tanto, utilizadas 687 unidades de analise, referentes ao periodo de 2006 a 2010. Os resultados apontam que o EBITDA pode realmente representar uma proxy adequada do FCO, visto que os dois possuem correlacao. Alem disso, observou-se que o EBITDA apresenta maior poder de explicacao do comportamento do preco das acoes do que o FCO, apesar de ambos se mostrarem significativos. Por fim, os resultados mostram que o FCO so se mostra como conteudo informacional marginal relevante apos a primeira fase do processo de convergencia as normas internacionais de contabilidade, iniciado no Brasil no exercicio de 2008, que torna obrigatoria a publicacao da DFC, onde se encontra a informacao de FCO, enquanto o EBITDA aparece sempre como uma informacao relevante.

Forecasting IBOVESPA Index with Fuzzy Logic

Much research has been done aiming the forecasting of stock market index values. However, very few researches focus on the predictability of the direction of stock market movements. This paper fills this gap through the estimation of a model, using fuzzy logic to forecast the direction of the movements of the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange index (IBOVESPA). To establish the rules of the model it was used an estimation period based on 1,000 daily data sets, corresponding to the period of January 8, 1997 to January 22, 2001. The test period was from January 23, 2001 to February 2, 2005. A software called FuzzyTECH® was used. Despite the estimated model produces an inexact answer, with a probabilistic output, it was possible to implement an investment strategy, using the IBOVESPA index as a proxy for an investment fund, which outperformed a buy-and-hold strategy.

Structural changes in covenants through the adoption of IFRS in Brazil

Abstract This study examines changes in the structure of covenants in debt agreements of companies issuing debentures during the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in Brazil. We investigate debt contracts of public and private companies that issued debentures before and after IFRS adoption in Brazil, between the years 2006–2008 and 2011–2014. We develop a database with all covenants from 126 contracts via hand-collected data, with 78 contracts from before IFRS adoption and 48 contracts afterward. We find high increases in covenants after adoption. However, this growth is observed only for restrictive security and non-accounting covenants, excluding clauses with accounting multiples. Our results show that IFRS adoption in Brazil shifted incentives and, as a result, shaped a new structure of debt contracts. Our findings complement and expand previous studies and can be useful to academics, regulators and practitioners by showing that the incentives to use accounting figures and ratios shifted in the credit market after IFRS adoption.

Brazil. IFRS Convergence and the Role of Accounting Education: The Brazilian Case

Our chapter critically analyses the adoption of IFRS in Brazil and argues that accounting education will be an important factor for a broad and complete convergence. The study is divided into five sections. Section 1 presents a short introduction of Brazil and discusses issues such as colonization background, legal system, capital markets and accounting profession. Section 2 reviews the road to accounting convergence in Brazil, focusing on the specificities of the Brazilian process that involved creation of a National Accounting Standard Committee. Section 3 critically analyses the adoption in Brazil of IFRS. We focus on the main issues brought by the change to a principle-based standard and discuss the lack of interpretation consensus among market participants. Due to that, financial statements of Brazilian companies still retain a strong national identity. In Sect. 4, we analyze the competences and capabilities that should be achieved through accounting education that we believe are necessary for a complete and broad convergence in Brazil. Finally, Sect. 5 presents our concluding remarks.