Financial statement in the Brazilian public sector: The perception of the professionals that prepare that information.

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to identify the perception of the developers of the financial statements of public sector in respect to their difficulties in producing and disseminating such information, after the convergence of Brazil to the international standards IPSAS. Our methodological approach used multivariate descriptive techniques. Data was obtained through a survey, applied to professionals involved in the process of preparing the financial statement in the Brazilian public sector. The sample had 69 respondents, which corresponds to the perception of 85% of states and 46% of Brazilian cities. Data analysis was conducted using exploratory factor analysis. Results indicated that two perceptions of difficulties stood out: 1) the relevance of the information - its quality was not considered as being able to guide the internal user (decision-making) or external user; 2) and the process of adaptation to the new standards - relationship between time and cost for adaptation. They also indicated the predominant focus on the Budget and the low adhesion to the Cash Flow Statement.