Brazil. IFRS Convergence and the Role of Accounting Education: The Brazilian Case

Abstract

Our chapter critically analyses the adoption of IFRS in Brazil and argues that accounting education will be an important factor for a broad and complete convergence. The study is divided into five sections. Section 1 presents a short introduction of Brazil and discusses issues such as colonization background, legal system, capital markets and accounting profession. Section 2 reviews the road to accounting convergence in Brazil, focusing on the specificities of the Brazilian process that involved creation of a National Accounting Standard Committee. Section 3 critically analyses the adoption in Brazil of IFRS. We focus on the main issues brought by the change to a principle-based standard and discuss the lack of interpretation consensus among market participants. Due to that, financial statements of Brazilian companies still retain a strong national identity. In Sect. 4, we analyze the competences and capabilities that should be achieved through accounting education that we believe are necessary for a complete and broad convergence in Brazil. Finally, Sect. 5 presents our concluding remarks.