Comunicação contábil interlingual: escolhas tradutórias na versão ao inglês de demonstrações financeiras em IFRS

Abstract

This is a qualitative and exploratory interdisciplinary study between Accounting and Translation Studies, with a focus on interlingual accounting communication. Previous research indicates the complexity of the translation process in accounting, while this issue seems to receive little attention from accounting professionals and academics. This research aimed to investigate the translation choices in IFRS financial statements translated into English and published by Brazilian companies listed on the capital market. Three steps were defined. In the first one, a bilingual glossary was built with 456 terms (including repetitions) based on the terminology defined in the IAS/IFRS, both in English and in their official translations into Brazilian Portuguese, and the corresponding terms found in the accounting pronouncements issued by the Brazilian FASB (CPC). In the second one, with a view to investigating the translation process in accounting, interviews were conducted with professional translators dedicated to translating financial statements into English. In the third one, based on the terms collected in the first step and selected by the translators in the second, the translation choices in the notes to financial statements of the companies selected for this study were analysed. The interviews and collected terms were analysed through content analysis, using the NVivo software as a tool. Of the 1,356 translations extracted from the analysed financial statements, 52.36% are in accordance with the IFRS. It was also found that the translation into English of terms that appear to be less technical was less proximate to the terminology defined in the IFRS. In this sense, there seems to be a need for closer communication between accountants and translators in order to improve interlingual accounting communication, in addition to mitigating a possible image risk that may not be perceived by companies.