A relação entre o nível de escolaridade dos contadores e a qualidade da informação contábil: um estudo nas universidades e institutos federais

Abstract

The quality of accounting information is understood as a set of attributes, notably the estimation of accruals, which reflect the ability of financial statements to faithfully represent the budgetary and patrimonial performance of public institutions. Outstanding Payables constitute a type of budgetary accrual, corresponding to committed expenditures that may be carried forward to the following fiscal year when not settled, whose management involves varying degrees of discretion. General accountants, by supporting the administration with analyses grounded in regulatory knowledge and accounting evidence, can contribute to the reduction of informational asymmetries, thereby increasing the quality of accounting information.This study aimed to verify whether there is a correlation between the educational level of general accountants of Federal Universities and Institutes and the quality of accounting information, measured by Discretionary Budgetary Accruals (DOA). To achieve this purpose, a descriptive and predominantly quantitative study was conducted, based on data collected through a questionnaire applied to 78 general accountants of the Federal Education Network, complemented by information extracted from financial statements and from the Federal Government’s Integrated System of Financial Administration (SIAFI), which were processed using multiple linear regression. The regression results indicate that the level of education is significantly associated with DOA, showing that professionals with a master’s degree and a second undergraduate degree present a relationship with the reduction of discretionary accruals, suggesting higher accounting quality. These findings reinforce the assumptions of Human Capital Theory and suggest that academic education is associated with greater informational accuracy and the improvement of public management. The analysis, carried out using data from the Federal Education Network as the sample, adds to the literature empirical evidence that may assist managers of public entities in supporting the choice of the professional who will occupy the position of chief accountant, as well as in supporting potential decisions related to the training of public servants. These aspects may, indirectly, contribute to management efficiency and benefit society by seeking to improve the quality of accountability of public education institutions.