Conformidade das Demonstrações Contábeis Aplicadas ao Setor Público nos Estados e Distrito Federal e sua relação com o Ranking da Qualidade da Informação Contábil e Fiscal

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the level of compliance of the Public Sector Accounting Statements (DCASP) of Brazilian states and the Federal District with the Brazilian Public Sector Accounting Standards (NBCASP) and its relationship with institutional performance in the Ranking of Accounting and Fiscal Information Quality (RQIC) over the period from 2019 to 2024. Grounded in Disclosure Theory, the study is based on the assumption that the quality, standardization, consistency, and disclosure of accounting information reduce information asymmetry, strengthening transparency, accountability, and the credibility of public institutions. The research adopts a quantitative, descriptive, and documentary approach, using data extracted from the consolidated, accounting statements published on the official websites of subnational entities and from the official databases of SICONFI/National Treasury. The level of compliance was measured through a normative checklist consisting of 65 items, developed based on the NBCASP and the Public Sector Accounting Manual (MCASP), whose requirements were coded using a binary system. Based on this coding, a Compliance Index was calculated to express the proportion of normative items effectively met in relation to the total number of applicable items. The statistical techniques employed included descriptive statistics, the Shapiro–Wilk normality test, the Mann–Whitney U test for comparisons between states, Student’s t-test for the RQIC, and Spearman’s correlation to assess the relationship between the central variables. The results revealed heterogeneity in the level of compliance with the NBCASP among the federative units. States such as Rondônia (97%), Bahia (96%), Espírito Santo (95%), and Santa Catarina (95%), among others, presented the highest average levels of compliance during the analyzed period, while other entities, such as Roraima (68%) and Maranhão (62%), recorded lower performance, confirming that normative adherence is a state-specific and asymmetric process. The analysis of the relationship between the level of compliance of the DCASP and performance in the RQIC revealed a weak positive correlation 0,210 (p = 0,0149), which was not statistically significant at the 0.01 level, indicating the absence of a relevant linear relationship between the variables. It was concluded that the performance captured by the RQIC is not conditioned by the strict level of compliance of accounting statements with the NBCASP. From the perspective of Disclosure Theory, the findings suggest that the institutional ranking prioritizes formal, systemic, and informational consistency aspects, whereas normative compliance requires greater technical complexity, professional judgment, and high accuracy in the presentation of accounting statements. Thus, normative compliance and institutional quality as measured by the RQIC constitute related, but not equivalent, dimensions of accounting information quality in the Brazilian public sector.