Práticas contábeis no tratamento do ativo imobilizado: evidências de Heurísticas e Decoupling

Abstract

Although more than ten years have elapsed since the convergence of accounting to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) standards, the use of tax depreciation rates is still present in Brazilian corporate accounting. The research sought to understand the practices of IFRS implementation in the treatment of fixed assets, with an emphasis on depreciation, in the Brazilian context. To collect the data, I conducted interviews with 29 accountants, based on a semi-structured guide, in order to know the primary practices that were present in the JDM of these professionals in the tasks performed. Data were processed, coded, and allocated into themes using Reflective Thematic Analysis. The research approach is qualitative, exploratory, with inductive coding, and it was carried out under the interpretive paradigm. Based on my interpretation of the reports of the accountants interviewed, I found three IFRS implementation practices in the treatment of fixed assets in the investigated context: shifting tasks to consultancies; simplifying records and accounting controls, and; using interdisciplinarity as an alternative in carrying out tasks. Additionally, I identified some barriers and challenges that professionals face when implementing standards, translating them into practices within organizations: the cost of generating information is high; the standards are complex and require specific knowledge; there are communication problems between internal sectors of the companies, and; asset accounting controls are non-existent or ineffective. The results were discussed from the approach of Heuristics and Institutional Theory concepts and allowed additional observations: accountants technically depend on other professionals and lost space for action; the high costs of services make it impossible to carry out the tasks annually; external reports are certificates of compliance, and finally, I observed that tax rules are still widely accepted for accounting purposes. The main theoretical contribution of the work consists of the thesis that the context of low professional qualification and the high cost of generating information allowed the use of judgment shortcuts, contributing to the occurrence of isomorphism and/or decoupling related to the practices of fixed assets and depreciation.