L. Nelson Carvalho

Contabilidade: aspectos relevantes da epopéia de sua evolução

As a main objective, this paper aims at discussing relevant aspects in the epopee of accounting evolution through several historical stages, from a simple method of bookkeeping based on double entry until its ripening as a social science with a strong economic basis. Some views and approaches to the concept of accounting will be revisited, as well as theories and the historical circumstances and other factors that may explain accounting as a genuine social science. In the more advanced interpretation of our discipline, the scientific quality of accounting should be searched preferentially in a series of characteristics, such as, for example: the understanding and measuring of equity elements; the preponderant application of economic value rather than simple costs or prices; the predictive power of financial statements; the introduction of the risk factor and time value of money in accounting evaluations, as well as the consideration of imputed costs and of opportunity costs. The relevance of accounting stems from the observation of the above-mentioned key issues as well as by the incorporation of the prevalence of essence over form into its conceptual framework, in the field of socially applied knowledge area of an economic-financial nature, with ramifications in the areas of productivity, environment protection and social responsibility, with necessary quantitative features as to its mechanics of functioning. It is evident that, for research purposes and to enhance certain dimensions, accounting may be studied under a variety of approaches, such as the ethical, the macroeconomic, the institutional and social, the behavioral, the systemic and the historical, among others, but accounting is much more than any of its particular approaches. Finally, one subsidiary objective of this paper is to help trying to answer, at least partially, on the question which addresses to almost an enigma: after all, what is accounting?

A ABORDAGEM DE SHIMPI PARA GESTÃO DE RISCOS

Este artigo discute a metodologia proposta por Shimpi para a gestao de riscos baseada nos custos de transacao e demais friccoes existentes nos mercados. O artigo demonstra que a gestao de riscos e um instrumento para a reducao dos custos de transacao e, como tal, pode ser substituida, ou melhorada, por praticas nao convencionais. O artigo e concluido com recomendacoes para o desenvolvimento e implementacao de modelos e tecnicas de gestao de riscos que considerem a fundamentacao economica apresentada. O trabalho nao apresenta conclusoes analiticas (dentro do paradigma positivo de pesquisa). Essa visao alternativa fornece um novo caminho para o desenvolvimento de pesquisas na area.

Remuneração em opções de ações: o SFAS 123 revisado

Different kinds of awards have been developed to stimulate employers to focus on the maximization of the fi rm value. To reach this target, entities use share-based payment in exchange for the employee services they receive. However, the utilization of these instruments results in controversial questions for Accounting. Should equity awards be recognized as expenses? Is a share option award (issued to pay for employee services) a liability or an equity instrument? What method should be used to measure the value of this instrument? What period of time should be considered to account for this kind of transaction? In order to establish accounting standards for transactions in which an entity exchanges its equity instruments for services, the FASB recently released SFAS 123 revised. This paper discusses share-based payment issues, concentrating on employee share options, and aims to review and analyze the conceptual framework of SFAS 123 revised. It presents the historical evolution of controversial regulations about this theme, discusses the main concepts issued by SFAS 123 revised and addresses FASBs argumentation about the theoretical background of this standard.

Earnings management and macroeconomic crises

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether macroeconomic crises are a motivational factor for earnings management practices by the companies listed in the capital markets of Brazil and the USA. Design/methodology/approach – The sample consisted of 7,932 firm-quarter observations from listed Brazilian companies and 99,931 from listed US companies, covering a 13-year period (1998-2010). The authors developed regression models for the panel data, taking into account discretionary accruals as an earnings management proxy (dependent variable), while crises were regarded as a macroeconomic factor (dummy variable of interest). Also considered were return on assets, market-to-book ratio, size, leverage, foreign direct investment, income taxes, quarters, and sectors, which were treated as control variables. Findings – The results corroborate the conceptual issues involved in undertaking this study, and they demonstrate that in periods of macroeconomic crises, companies are more motivated to empl...

A New Approach about Earnings Management and Audit Companies: Empirical Evidences from Brazilian Capital Market

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the discretionary accruals of Brazilian public companies would reveal changes as a result of the big four firm that audits them, and whether the companies served by firms of less importance in the sector would denote different behaviors in comparison to those contracting the largest four. For this purpose was formed a sample with 7,875 observations originating from 44 quarters from the period of 1998 to 2009, emphasizing the non-inclusion of the other years due to the Brazilian IFRS harmonization. Statistical estimations were carried out based on this sample using the panel data approach. The results showed differences in the discretionary accruals regardless of the size of the audit firm, and also indicated adverse patterns between clients of the four largest firms. Thus it was established that for the Brazilian capital market, simple segregation between big four and others does not appear to make any sense, contrary to the recommendations of literature. Such benchmarking suggests that future surveys conducted in this jurisdiction, which require the use of the auditor control variable, should do so by means of the inclusion of five groups, one for each large auditing company and one for smaller audit firms.

Poder Discricionário do Gestor e Comparabilidade dos Relatórios Financeiros: Uma Análise do Processo de Transição Regulatória da Contabilidade Brasileira

This research aimed to directly evaluate the impact of the accounting regulatory flexibility movement on the comparability of financial reports. The country chosen for the analysis was Brazil, because it was one of the few countries in the world where a process of regulatory change from a completely rule-based standard with a strong link to tax accounting (Lopes, 2011) to a principle-based standard with greater need for decision by managers who prepare the financial reports took place. To measure comparability, the accounting function similarity model developed by DeFranco, Kothari and Verdi (2011) was used. The companies analyzed were all listed ones with full data for the period concerned having, at least, a pair company within the same economic activity sector. To obtain the research results, we adopted a panel data model where the years 2005 to 2012 were compared to the year 2004. The results obtained prove that, on average, there was no significant decrease in the comparability level within country during the regulatory transition period in Brazil. On the contrary, there was an increase in genuine comparability in the year 2012 when compared to 2004. In the model adjusted by stepwise, the years 2011 and 2012 had a significantly higher average comparability when compared to 2004. The results found corroborate other researches addressing the quality of accounting information (Collins, Pasewark, & Riley, 2012; Psaros & Trotman, 2004; Agoglia, Doupnik, & Tsakumis, 2011) and prove the superiority of the principle-based standard also over the comparability of financial reports. The main conclusion of this research is that increasing manager’s discretionary power through flexibility of accounting standards does not decrease the comparability of financial reports.

THE CONSOLIDATION TRAP: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM DIFFERENCES IN EARNINGS MANAGEMENT INCENTIVES AND PRACTICES IN BRAZIL

This paper investigates a particular scenario under the Brazilian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles before IFRS adoption, which require public companies to disclose individual financial statements (legal parent entity), together with consolidated financial statements (economic entity). Notwithstanding, different incentives for earnings management can be identified in comparing legal and economic entities and their respective financial statements. We use two models of earnings management, Jones Modified with 848 observations and KS with 694 observations for the same period 2000 to 2006. This research shows certain evidence on income-decreasing expense accounting choices in legal entities financial statements, consistent with the hypothesis of management for lowering tax burden. Whereas, evidence from economic entity (consolidate accounting figures) suggests income-increasing accounting choices, consistent with the political cost and capital market pressure hypotheses. These results can contributes to understand the real impact of legal system in firms accounting in Brazil, since the disclosure requirement for individual and consolidated financial statements is mandatory for few countries around the world.

Auditoria: independência, estratégias mercadológicas e satisfação do cliente - um estudo exploratório sobre a região Nordeste

A crise de credibilidade das auditorias vivenciada nao so no Brasil, mas tambem em paises como Estados Unidos e Inglaterra, e o ambiente global, impoem aos auditores independentes uma oportunidade de revisao da forma de conducao da sua atividade e de suas principais posturas profissionais. Uma dimensao mais competitiva esta influenciando a realidade da Auditoria intensificando, no cotidiano, preocupacoes com agregacao de valor, satisfacao do cliente, autoregulacao, dentre outras. O fenomeno de migracao de valor que acompanha o processo ocorrido, nos ultimos anos, de aumento do poder dos clientes, levanta alguns questionamentos acerca da etica, independencia e da intensidade da regulamentacao governamental na atividade. A argumentacao utilizada, neste trabalho, foi fundamentada numa visao temporal do tema, por meio de pesquisa realizada com empresas de Auditoria e respectivos clientes. Sem a pretensao de ser conclusivo, este estudo propoe uma reflexao sobre o desafio de construcao de nova realidade.