Tipos de fraquezas materiais nos controles internos contábeis evidenciados nos relatórios anuais 20-f emitidos pelas empresas brasileiras listadas na bolsa de valores de Nova Iorque

Abstract

Through the study of the contractual firm theory, the need to prepare and disclose financial statements is confirmed in a transparent and equitable way, to meet the collective interest and in line with good corporate governance practices. However, following a series of financial scandals that shook the US capital market, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was promulgated in 2002 to rescue investor confidence by imposing rules to mitigate the risk of informational asymmetry, through the implementation of internal controls that would guarantee the fidelity of the financial statements. In this sense, this is a descriptive research, carried out with qualitative and quantitative approaches and bibliographical and documentary strategies to meet the proposed general objective: to determine and classify the types of material weaknesses in the internal accounting controls evidenced in the 20-F annual reports of Brazilian companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange, from 2010 to 2016, seeking to identify general characteristics of companies that recognize deficiencies in the practices of internal accounting controls. The persistence of material weaknesses in the internal accounting controls of these companies motivated this research to be carried out, considering that these deficiencies may cause distortions in public financial reports, weakening the usefulness of accounting information. This could may cause informational asymmetry and, consequently, inadequate decision making by stakeholders. The information used in this research was based on the 20-F annual reports of the above companies, filed in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and available in the companies’ websites, from 2010 to 2016. The results indicated the existence of 22 annual 20-F reports with 97 disclosed material weaknesses. The largest number of material weaknesses disclosed is concentrated in the disclosure category Accounting Specificities, with 27 material weaknesses. The area of activity Electricity presented the largest number of 20-F annual reports with material weaknesses which, consequently, incurred in the greatest number of recognized material weaknesses. The survey also points out that most of the 20-F annual reports with material weaknesses presented losses in the respective periods.