Directives for public entities’ popular financial reporting

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8069.2021.e76071

Abstract

This study analyzes different types of Popular Financial Reports (PFR) identifying the main characteristics responsible for achieving effective transparency and improving participative democracy. A model is suggested gathering core information and formatting techniques from national and international governmental experience on publishing reports designed to be intelligible to citizens. The crosschecking of criteria fixed by seven international awards/certificates provides the directives sustaining the proposed model, which also considered the four initiatives adopted in Brazil. When applying the results obtained to the PFR elaboration experiences developed in Brazil, it was found that there is already an evolution when adopting a more attractive look and a wider dissemination, however, the Brazilian reports are still long compared to international ones, and, the content and technical language of official reports still prevail, which makes it difficult for Brazilian citizens who do not have financial or accounting training.

Author Biographies

Fabiana Vale de Sousa Prudente Martins, Universidade de Brasília (UnB)

Graduada em Ciências Contábeis pelo Departamento de Ciências Contábeis e Atuariais (UnB)

Diana Vaz de Lima, Universidade de Brasília (UnB)

Doutora em Ciências Contábeis (UnB/UFPB/UFRN)

Pós-Doutorado em Contabilidade e Controladoria pela FEARP (USP)

Professora do Departamento de Ciências Contábeis e Atuariais e do Programa de Mestrado Profissional em Administração Pública (UnB)

References

Allison, G. S. (1995). GFOA’s Popular Reporting Awards Program: Revised and Improved. Government Finance Review, 11(3), 36-37.

Association of Government Accountants. Citizen-Centric Reporting (CCR). Retrieved from https://www.agacgfm.org/Standards-Guidance/CCR.aspx

Association of Government Accountants. Who is AGA? Retrieved from https://www.agacgfm.org/Membership/Learn-About-AGA/Who-is-AGA.aspx

Association of School Business Officials International. Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting. Retrieved from https://asbointl.org/awards-career-development/certificate-of-excellence-in-financial-reporting

Bertin, P.R.B. et al. (2019). A Parceria para Governo Aberto como plataforma para o avanço da Ciência Aberta no Brasil. Transinformação, v.31, e190020, http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/2318-0889201931e190020

Biancone, P., Secinaro, S., & Brescia, V. (2016a). Popular report and Consolidated Financial Statements in public utilities. Different tools to inform the citizens, a long journey of the transparency. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 7(1), 111-124.

Biancone, P., Secinaro, S., & Brescia, V. (2016b). The Popular Financial Reporting: Focus on Stakeholders—The first European Experience. International Journal of Business and Management, 11(11), 115-125. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v11n11p115

Biancone, P. P., Secinaro, S., & Brescia, V. (2017). Popular financial reporting: Results, expense and welfare markers. African Journal of Business Management, 11(18), 491-501. https://doi.org/10.5897/AJBM2017.8367

Biancone, P., Secinaro, S. F., Brescia, V., & Iannaci, D. (2019). The Popular Financial Reporting between Theory and Evidence. International Business Research. 2019-06-18 | journal-article. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5539/ibr.v12n7p45.

Biancone, P. P., Secinaro, S., & Brescia, V. (2020). Popular Financial Reporting: A New Information Tool for Local Public Groups. In Financial Determinants in Local Re-Election Rates: Emerging Research and Opportunities (pp. 129-175). IGI Global. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-7820-8.ch006

Brusca, I., & Montesinos, V. (2006). Are citizens significant users of government financial information?. Public Money and Management, 26(4), 205-209. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9302.2006.00526.x

Cabral, L.M, & Aquino, A. C. B. (2020). Movimento ocular e desafios cognitivos na compreensão de Relatórios Populares. XX USP International Conference in Accounting.

CGU Controladoria Geral da União. Parceria para Governo Aberto. Retrieved from http://governoaberto.cgu.gov.br/

Clay, P. M., & Olson, J. (2008). Defining" fishing communities": vulnerability and the Magnuson-Stevens fishery conservation and management act. Human Ecology Review, 143-160.

Clay, J. A. (2010). Appendix H: Recent collaboration practice literature. Strategic Collaboration in Public and Nonprofit Administration: A Practice-Based Approach to Solving Shared Problems, 343. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781420088762-a8

Cohen, S., & Karatzimas, S. (2015). Tracing the future of reporting in the public sector: introducing integrated popular reporting. International Journal of Public Sector Management. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-11-2014-0140

Cohen, S., Mamakou, X. J., & Karatzimas, S. (2017). IT-enhanced popular reports: Analyzing citizen preferences. Government information quarterly, 34(2), 283-295. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2017.04.003

GASB Government Accounting Standards Board. About the Gasb. Retrieved from https://www.gasb.org/jsp/GASB/Page/GASBSectionPage&cid=1176168081485

GFOA Government Finance Officers Association About GFOA. Retrieved from Government Finance Officers Association: http://www.gfoa.org/about-gfoa

GFOA Government Finance Officers Association. Canadian Award for Financial Reporting Program (CAnFR Program). Retrieved from http://www.gfoa.org/canfr

GFOA Government Finance Officers Association. Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from http://www.gfoa.org/certificate-achievement-excellence-financial-reporting-cafr-program

GFOA Government Finance Officers Association. Popular Annual Financial Reporting Award Program (PAFR Program). Retrieved from http://www.gfoa.org/pafr

Groff, J. E., Pitman, M. K., & Tervo, W. (2017). Why don’t municipal governments produce popular annual financial reports? A preliminary study with evidence from Texas. International Journal on Governmental Financial Management, 27(2), 65-84.

Hermann, K. R. (2011). Creating an excellent popular financial report. Government Finance Review, 27(5), 41-44.

IPSASB (2014). The conceptual framework for general purpose financial reporting by public sector entities. Handbook of international public sector accounting pronouncements: Vol. 1.

Irvin, R. A., & Stansbury, J. (2004). Citizen participation in decision making: is it worth the effort?. Public administration review, 64(1), 55-65. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2004.00346.x

Jordan, M., Yusuf, J. E., Mayer, M., & Mahar, K. (2016). What citizens want to know about their government's finances: Closing the information gap. The Social Science Journal, 53(3), 301-308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2016.04.007

Jordan, M. M., Yusuf, J. E., Berman, M., & Gilchrist, C. (2017). Popular financial reports as fiscal transparency mechanisms: An assessment using the fiscal transparency index for the Citizen User. International Journal of Public Administration, 40(8), 625-636. https://doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2016.1186175

Kopits, G., Craig, J. D., & Kopits, G. (1998). Transparency in government operations (Vol. 158). Washington, DC: International monetary fund. https://doi.org/10.5089/9781557756978.084

Lee, M. (2006). The history of municipal public reporting. Intl Journal of Public Administration, 29(4-6), 453-476. https://doi.org/10.1080/01900690500436982

Manes-Rossi, F. (2019). New development: Alternative reporting formats: a panacea for accountability dilemmas?. Public Money & Management, 39(7), 528-531. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2019.1578540

Ministério da Economia. (2020) Relatório de Gestão Integrado do Ministério da Economia. Retrived from https://www.gov.br/economia/pt-br/centrais-de-conteudo/publicacoes/relatorios/arquivos/2020/rgi-2019_29-06-2020.pdf/view

Monteiro, R. (2016). Transparência Bahia publica prestação de Contas Simplificada do Estado. Retrieved from http://www.politicalivre.com.br/2016/09/transparencia-bahia-publica-prestacao-de-contas-simplificada-do-estado/

OECD. Government at a Glance 2017, OECD Publishing. Retrieved from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/gov_glance-2017-en

Office of Financial Management. Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. Retrieved from https://www.ofm.wa.gov/accounting/financial-audit-reports/comprehensive-annual-financial-report

Oliveira, J. H. C. (2013). Neuromarketing, tomada de decisão e consumo sustentável entre jovens: um estudo sobre o processamento cognitivo duplo e seu impacto na brand equity por meio da neurociência visual (Doctoral dissertation, Tese de Livre-Docência em Administração–Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabildiade de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo).

OPGOpen Government Partnership. Brazil. Retrieved from https://www.opengovpartnership.org/countries/brazil

Public Finance Awards. Achievement in Financial Reporting & Accountability. Retrieved from https://www.publicfinanceawards.co.uk/categories/

Secretaria da Fazenda do Estado da Bahia. (2019). Prestação de Contas Anual Simplificada de 2019. Salvador, Bahia. Retrieved from http://www.transparencia.ba.gov.br/Home/ObterDocumentoHome/PrestacaoContasAnualSimplificada2018

Sharp, F. C., Carpenter, F. H., & Sharp, R. F. (1998). Popular financial reports for citizens. The CPA Journal, 68(3), 34.

Silva, V. R., & de Medeiros, M. R. A. (2020). Desafios e possibilidades para o controle social de políticas públicas no atual contexto de retrocesso dos direitos sociais. Textos & Contextos (Porto Alegre), 19(1), e36745-e36745. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15448/1677-9509.2020.1.36745

TCU Tribunal de Contas da União. Ministério da Fazenda segue TCU e faz relatório de gestão acessível ao cidadão. Retrieved from https://portal.tcu.gov.br/imprensa/noticias/ministerio-da-fazenda-segue-tcu-e-faz-relatorio-de-gestao-acessivel-ao-cidadao.htm

TCU Tribunal de Contas do Estado da Bahia. Sefaz apresenta ao TCE/BA a Prestação de Contas Anual Simplificada / 2015. Retrieved from https://www.tce.ba.gov.br/noticias/sefaz-apresenta-ao-tce-ba-a-prestacao-de-contas-anual-simplificada-2015

Yusuf, J. E. W., & Jordan, M. M. (2012). Effective popular financial reports: The citizen perspective. Journal of Government Financial Management, 61(4).

Yusuf, J. E., Jordan, M. M., Neill, K. A., & Hackbart, M. (2013). For the people: Popular financial reporting practices of local governments. Public Budgeting & Finance, 33(1), 95-113. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5850.2013.12003.x

Yusuf, J. E., & Jordan, M. M. (2015). Popular financial reports: Tools for transparency, accountability and citizen engagement. The Journal of Government Financial Management, 64(1).

Published

2021-04-30

How to Cite

Martins, F. V. de S. P., & Lima, D. V. de. (2021). Directives for public entities’ popular financial reporting . Revista Contemporânea De Contabilidade, 18(47), 91–108. https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8069.2021.e76071

Issue

Section

Articles