Directives for public entities’ popular financial reporting

Abstract

This study analyzes different types of Popular Financial Reports (PFR) identifying the main characteristics responsible for achieving effective transparency and improving participative democracy. A model is suggested gathering core information and formatting techniques from national and international governmental experience on publishing reports designed to be intelligible to citizens. The crosschecking of criteria fixed by seven international awards/certificates provides the directives sustaining the proposed model, which also considered the four initiatives adopted in Brazil. When applying the results obtained to the PFR elaboration experiences developed in Brazil, it was found that there is already an evolution when adopting a more attractive look and a wider dissemination, however, the Brazilian reports are still long compared to international ones, and, the content and technical language of official reports still prevail, which makes it difficult for Brazilian citizens who do not have financial or accounting training.