The roots of budgetary and financial accounting in Brazil

Abstract

Th is article presents evidence of Italian infl uences on the Brazilian Public Sector Accounting in the early twentieth century, using the analytically structured history approach and the institutional theory. Th e study presents the institutional work developed by accountant Carlos de Carvalho in employing a new accounting methodology at the time. Th e article proposes a new perspective on the literature on the history of accounting in Brazil, suggesting that the emergence of budgetary and fi nancial accounting was due to the innovation of local practices in a municipality of the state of São Paulo, and then expanded to the entire state, infl uenced by the Italian legal doctrine. Th erefore, the use of dual accounting in Brazil during the early twentieth century was fi rst disseminated in practice and transformed into legislation aft erward. Th e Italian roots that infl uenced this movement are present in the current model, which is being reviewed by the current process of convergence to international IPSAS standards.

Fatores Condicionantes da Adoção dos Padrões Internacionais de Contabilidade Do Setor Público – IPSAS

“…In Brazil, for example, the context of the beginning of the Republic was characterized by greater fiscal control due to pressure from external creditors who demanded accounting innovations with improved information, given the patrimonial model that prevailed in the Brazilian Public Administration. Thus, many governments seek changes in their accounting reports and statements to obtain legitimacy and, consequently, international loans (Azevedo & Pigatto, 2020).…”