Compliance in the recognition of intangible assets: a study from the perspective of institutional theory

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the compliance of a group of brazilian companies to the required standards for the accounting recognition of intangible assets, from the point of view of institutional theory. This is the descriptive study of qualitative and quantitative evidence that basically involved the consultation in annual accounts of a sample of companies classified in the BM&FBOVESPA Bovespa Index of a temporary space that includes exercises characterized by changes that occurred in the institutional matrix related to intangibles. The data analysis consisted in verifying adherence of companies to this new context and in the process of institutionalization of the matrix required for the recognition of intangible assets. The observed evidences reveal a gradual convergence of the studied sample to the new institutional matrix related to intangibles, besides checking the possible use of the assumptions of institutional theory to explain the change in the accounting procedures applied to the recognition of these elements.