Diretrizes para relatórios financeiros populares de entidades públicas
| Autor | Fabiana Vale de Sousa Prudente Martins/Diana Vaz de Lima |
| Cargo | Graduada em Ciências Contábeis pelo Departamento de Ciências Contábeis e Atuariais (UnB), Brasília/DF/Doutora em Ciências Contábeis (UnB/UFPB/UFRN) Pós-Doutorado em Contabilidade e Controladoria pela FEARP (USP) |
| Páginas | 91-108 |
91
Artigo
Original
Original
Paper
Revista Contemporânea de Contabilidade, Florianópolis, v. 18, n. 47, p. 91-108, abr./jun., 2021.
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. ISSN 2175-8069. DOI : https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8069.2021.e76071
Directives for public entities’ popular financial reporting
Diretrizes para relatórios financeiros populares de entid ades públicas
Directrices para informes financieros populares de las en tidades públicas
Fabiana Vale de Sousa Prudente Martins
Graduada em Ciências Contábeis pelo Departamento de
Ciências Contábeis e Atuariais (UnB), Brasília/DF, Brasil
fabianavaledesousa@gmail.com
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2482-2848
Diana Vaz de Lima*
Doutora em Ciências Contábeis (UnB/UFPB/UFRN)
Pós-Doutorado em Contabilidade e Controladoria pela FEARP (USP)
Professora do Departamento de Ciências Contábeis e Atuariais e do
Programa de Mestrado Profissional em
Administração Pública (UnB), Brasília/DF, Brasil
diana_lima@unb.br
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4477-445X
Primary contact address for correspondence*
Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro – Asa Norte, CEP: 70910-900, Brasília/DF, Brasil
Abstract
This study analyzes different types of Popular Financial Reports (PFR) identifying the main characteristics
responsible for achieving effective transparency and improving participative democracy. A model is suggested
gathering core information and formatting techniques from national and international governmental experience
on publishing reports designed to be intelligible to citizens. The crosschecking of criteria fixed by seven
international awards/certificates provides the directives sustaining the proposed model, which also considered
the four initiatives adopted in Brazil. When applying the results obtained to the PFR elaboration experiences
developed in Brazil, it was found that there is already an evolution when adopting a more attractive look and a
wider dissemination, however, the Brazilian reports are still long compared to international ones, and, the
content and technical language of official reports still prevail, which makes it difficult for Brazilian citizens who
do not have financial or accounting training.
Keywords: Popular Financial Reporting; Accountability; Public Sector; Transparency; Participative
Democracy
Resumo
Este estudo analisa diferentes tipos de Relatórios Financeiros Populares (RFP) identificando as principais
características responsáveis por alcançar uma transparência efetiva e aprimorar a democracia participativa.
É sugerido um modelo que reúna informações essenciais e técnicas de formatação da experiência
governamental nacional e internacional na publicação de relatórios concebidos para serem inteligíveis aos
cidadãos. O cruzamento de critérios fixados por sete prêmios / certificados internacionais fornece as diretrizes
que sustentam o modelo proposto, que considerou também as quatro iniciativas adotadas no Brasil. Ao aplicar
os resultados obtidos às experiências de elaboração de RFP desenvolvidas no Brasil, constatou-se que já
existe uma evolução na adoção de um olhar mais atraente e de maior divulgação, porém, os relatórios
brasileiros ainda são longos se comparados aos internacionais, e, o conteúdo e a linguagem técnica dos
relatórios oficiais ainda prevalecem, o que dificulta a compreensão dos brasileiros que não possuem formação
financeira ou contábil.
Palavras-chave: Relatórios Financeiros Populares; Prestação de contas; Setor público; Transparência;
Democracia Participativa
Resumen
Este estudio analiza diferentes tipos de Informes Financieros Populares (IFP), identificando las principales
características responsables de lograr una transparencia efectiva y promover la democracia participativa. Se
sugiere un modelo que recopile información esencial y técnicas de capacitación de la experiencia de los
Directives for public entities’ popular financial reporting
92
Revista Contemporânea de Contabilidade, Florianópolis, v. 18, n. 47, p. 91-108, abr./jun, 2021.
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. ISSN 2175-8069. DOI : https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8069.2021.e76071
gobiernos nacionales e internacionales en la publicación de informes diseñados para para ser inteligibles para
los ciudadanos. El cotejo de criterios fijados de siete premios / certificados internacionales proporciona las
directrices que sustentan el modelo propuesto, que también consideró cuatro iniciativas adoptadas en Brasil.
Al aplicar los resultados obtenidos a las experiencias de elaboración de IFP desarrolladas en Brasil, se
encontró que ya existe una evolución al adoptar una mirada más atractiva y una difusión más amplia, sin
embargo, los informes brasileños aún son largos en comparación con los internacionales, y el contenido y el
lenguaje técnico de los informes oficiales aún prevalecen, lo que dificulta a los ciudadanos brasileños que no
tienen formación financiera o contable.
Palabras clave: Informes Financieros Populares; Rendición de Cuentas; Sector Público; Transparencia;
Democracia participativa
1 Introduction
Transparency in government operations is considered an essential precondition for macroeconomic
sustainability, good governance, and overall fiscal rectitude, and popular financial reports (PFR) can contribute
in this direction, mainly by providing financial information to a non-technical, citizen audience (Kopits & Craig,
1998; Jordan et al., 2017). According to Yusuf et al. (2013), citizens have been demanding more public
accountability of their governments and governmental programs as “there is a decreasing citizen trust in
government and increasing citizen dissatisfaction with government performance.” (p.2).
As governments have grown in size and complexity, citizens increasingly view government as
inefficient and wasteful in the delivery of public services. However, following an opposite path from the desired
popular participation, accountability has been restricted to monetary values that are difficult to understand,
compromising the principles of corporate governance, in particular, the transparency of information (Yusuf et
al., 2013).
The need of offering more transparence, contributing to participative democracy, has being already
perceived in the academy. Brusca and Montesinos (2006) highlight that financial information may reflect the
results of public policies and, consequently, may serv as communication instruments revealing economic
effects resulting from administrative strategies. They sustain the adoption of more popular reports making the
governmental accounting understandable to non-specialists. Since 2010, IPSAS Conceptual Framework has
identified citizens as the main users of PFR (Biancone et al., 2020).
In practice, however, many financial reports published by public entities are uneasy to read, requiring
specific accounting knowledge, in a way that information is being more hidden than revealed (Manes-Rossi,
2019). In this context, the discussion about governments making information available in an accessible
language comes to light. In the case of the PRF, consists of an innovative reporting technique that can facilitate
the provision of information serving as the foundation for developing a cadre of informed citizens who can
participate in the budgeting/fiscal policy process more effectively (Jordan et al., 2016). “PFR is a general term
describing the separate reporting of financial and performance information to a citizen audience in a manner
which is more understandable by the public” (Yusuf et al., 2013, p. 2). PFRs are targeted at those stakeholders
who have no experience in public finance, but who need or want a less detailed view of government financial
activities (Clay & Olson, 2008; Yusuf & Jordan, 2012; Biancone et al., 2019).
There can be seen initiatives all over the world, but the main PFR precursors are the United States
and Canada. In 2016, Turin became the first European City to publish financial statements prepared under
PFR Principles (Biancone, Secinaro & Brescia, 2016b). Despite its relevance, the theme has been centered
in few researchers (Yusuf, Jordan, Cohen, Karatzimas, Biancone, Secinaro, Brescia) and has focused on the
American and Canadian experiences.
The goal of this paper is to discuss the preparation and dissemination of PFR evaluating criteria fixed
by international certificates and awards related to the theme and providing a conceptual model to be used as
guidance for Brazilian public sector entities. The research method consisted of a comprehensive bibliographic
review over existing models of PFRs, in the identification of core directives for building a model simple enough
to be adopted by different kinds of governmental entities and in the critical analysis of four initiatives adopted
in Brazil, aiming at is improvement based on the experience obtained.
This paper was structured in six sections. Following Section 1 introduction, Section 2 discuss the users
of accounting information and the concepts characterizing a PFR. Section 3 details the methodology leading
to the proposed model. The Section 4 provides the insight extracted from the international experience shaping
the conceptual model, and in Section 5 it is presented a critical analysis of four initiatives adopted in Brazil.
Finally, in Section 6, the conclusion emphasizes the utility of the proposed model, followed by the references
used in the Study.
Para continuar a ler
PEÇA SUA AVALIAÇÃO