Controle Interno nos Relatórios Anuais dos Estados Brasileiros à Luz da NBC T 16.8

Abstract

In the past few years, internal control has gained strength as a tool capable of strengthening governance in public administration. In 2008, the "Conselho Federal de Contabilidade - CFC" (Federal Accounting Council) published norm NBC T 16.8, which establishes guidelines for the internal control of public sector entities. This research aims at checking whether internal control devices, according to NBC T 16.8, are being taken into consideration by Brazilian state reports. The research, which was of a qualitative nature, examined 24 annual reports published by nine Brazilian states, referring to years 2008, 2009 and 2010, by means of content analysis. The results demonstrate that the greatest number of verified occurrences presented themselves in Ceará's internal control, followed by Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. In the Pará reports no evidence was detected concerning the observance of laws established by NBC T 16.8. It has been concluded that the low incidence of observance to NBCT 16.8 regulations in the internal control reports by Brazilian states contradicts good governance practices which consider control to be one of their dimensions.