Características socioeconômicas que influenciam o nível de alfabetização financeira de discentes de ensino superior de contabilidade

Abstract

The ability to manage personal finances has become a fundamental task for the individuals and society good financial health. As a result, the financial literacy topic has gained greater evidence among government agencies, universities and research institutes in the economic area. The financial literacy importance is related to the individuals ability to make decisions, especially among the young ones. Therefore, the present study aims to contribute to the literature and aims to identify the financial literacy index (IAF) of accounting students in two brazilian higher education institutions, analyzing which socioeconomic factors exert some influence on this regard. In this regard, the literature review was carried out aiming to identify and understand the financial literacy concepts, as well as to elucidate relevant aspects to the theme. Subsequently, a questionnaire was elaborated based on previous studies, so that it was possible to better understand and compare the results. Therefore, the results showed similarities to the IAF international average, but with unsatisfactory levels, considering the financial literacy. It was also possible to identify that socioeconomic factors (gender and year attended) have some significant influence on the respondents IAF. Thereby, it is possible to affirm that these results are similar to other studies already carried out, where low levels of financial literacy were evidenced, showing the need to deeply study the factors that cause such influence, in order to find measures and solutions that corroborate for the improvement of such results.