Proposta de instrumento de coleta de dados para diagnóstico da utilidade e aplicabilidade da análise das demonstrações contábeis

Abstract

This research aimed to propose an instrument for diagnosing the usefulness and applicability of the analysis of financial statements in decision making by managers. For this, a questionnaire was constructed, with thirty questions based on a literature review on the analysis of financial statements and based on the experience of the researchers involved in this research on this theme. This instrument was subjected to an external validation technique, through application to a group of five decision makers, whose objective was to identify possible spelling errors, inconsistencies and problems of objectivity and clarity in the questions. Subsequently, the instrument was also submitted to statistical validation through the verification of Cronbach's alpha, whose purpose was to estimate the degree of reliability of the questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha results show that the data collection instrument has adequate reliability and internal consistency for its purpose. After that, the questionnaire was applied to managers or owners/partners of companies in the municipalities of Ituiutaba and Uberlândia, state of Minas Gerais. The survey results showed that most managers do not know the financial statement analysis tools, suggesting that this is the main reason for not using this tool in companies. The findings also reveal that among managers who use these tools, they probably use them because they consider them relevant in internal decision-making. In addition, using the chi-square test, it was found that there is an association between higher education and knowledge about techniques/tools for analyzing financial statements and there is also an association between knowledge and the level of usefulness of these techniques in decisions long term.