Controle interno: percepção dos profissionais contábeis dos estados do Paraná e de Santa Catarina

Abstract

Internal control is a management tool that aims to identify failures, the ability to correct them and generate reliable information. Its performance consists of implementing measures to protect assets, provide them with accuracy and reliability accounting data, as well as assisting the administration in decision-making (ALMEIDA, 2010). Due to the vast movement of information and documents in an accounting office, it is important to use an appropriate internal control system to keep the order and quality of the services. Front of it, this study aims to analyze the perception of accounting professionals about the internal control used in accounting offices in the states of Paraná and Santa Catarina. For data collection, a questionnaire was applied, with a quantitative approach and descriptive character, in which respondents were required to indicate their degree of perception regarding the statements presented in the context of the accounting office in which they work, through a Likert scale adapted from 05 levels, whose questions were elaborated by Oliveira, Santos and Lunkes, in 2017, being characterized as a base model used in the development of this research. Eighty-three valid responses were obtained and data analysis was carried out using descriptive statistical techniques. The results of this research show that, in the analysis of the control environment, 45.8% of the respondents claim that the administration perceives the essentiality of internal control to the achievement of objectives. Regarding risk assessment, only 14.5% declare that the definition of operational, information and compliance risk levels is quite common. Talking about control activities, only 27.7% claim that the activities adopted by the office are appropriate and work consistently. When verifying the information and communication, it is identified that only in 20 of the total offices analyzed, the communication of information efficiently permeates all hierarchical levels, in addition, when analyzing the monitoring, it is noticed that this number is even lower, as only 18 constantly monitor the internal control system. Thus, the results show that internal control is an aspect little explored in accounting firms, with no significant correlation being observed between the individual characteristics of respondents regarding their perception. It is also expected to stimulate discussions around the subject, and it was found that there is a need for a broader study on the use of internal control in the accounting services sector.