Aspectos contábeis do Tratado de Itaipu : análise das práticas de avaliação dos ativos imobilizados da empresa Itaipu Binacional

Abstract

In the seventies of the twentieth century, there was an expansion in the production of electricity in Brazil. On April 26, 1973 the Itaipu Treaty was concluded between Brazil and Paraguay which enabled the construction of a hydroelectric plant in the border between the two countries: the Itaipu Binacional, which is governed by the Itaipu Treaty and its Annexes. The accounting of this entity presents singularities as Annex C of the Itaipu Treaty which sets the financial databases and the provision of services of Itaipu electricity and also how will the cost of electricity service will be comprised, although the depreciation of fixed assets has not been included, as a result the effect of the depreciation of the company facilities has not been presented in its financial statements, generating a communication issue, or better, the loss of accounting information quality between Itaipu Binacional and its stakeholders and this problem still affects the financial statements of ELETROBRAS (Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras S/A.) on grounds of Itaipu Binacional being constituted by ELETROBRAS and ANDE (Administración Nacional de Eletricidad) with equal participation in the capital of Itaipu Binacional. This dissertation aims to analyze Itaipu Binacional accounting practices in the evaluation of its fixed assets, under the view of the Accounting Theory, and new Corporate Accounting standards as IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) and the new Public Accounting under IPSAS (International Public Sector Accounting Standards). To achieve these objectives a descriptive search has been conducted and a deductive method has been used as research and documentary analysis technique has been used as analysis of data. It has been observed a gap in accounting literature regarding binational ventures as Itaipu Binacional. The justifications of this study are its probable practical applicability in the Itaipu Treaty review and the possibility of Brazil joins other binational investments, governed by treaties in the area of electric power generation. In the financial statements for the financial year 2009 of Itaipu Binacional, fixed assets represented 88.22% of total assets, Itaipu accounting practices used in the valuation of fixed assets in relation to measurement, depreciation, maintenance and impairment, diverge from Accounting Theory, Corporate Accounting and Public Accounting, for nonuse of depreciation, the use of maintenance was mentioned, although its values were not presented and the impairment test was not applied in searched exercises which is briefly quoted in 2008. Another problem detected in this survey is the absence of forecast supervision by the Tribunal de Contas da União, contesting the Constituição Federal of the República Federativa do Brasil and harming the accountability of Itaipu Binacional. It has been concluded that modifications are required in annex C of the Itaipu Treaty such as those that are occurring in Corporate Accounting and Public Accounting that converge to international standards.