Education Expenses and Their Relationships with the Accounting Indicators of Capixabas Municipalities

Abstract

Currently, public managers have the challenge of combining intense demand for essential services for the population with limited financial resources. Due to this fact, they submit themselves to gradually seek more efficiency in decision making. The literature shows us that analysis via indicators extracted from accounting balance sheets is one of the vital mechanisms to contribute to this purpose. Thus, the research aimed to answer the following question: Are the accounting indicators, calculated through the balance sheets of the municipalities of Espírito Santo, related to the amount invested in education? Regarding the methodology, it is a bibliographic and quantitative research. To answer the research question, the following statistical methods were used: descriptive statistics, multiple linear regression and Pearson correlation. The results found indicate that some quotients used in the research, such as Budget Result Quotient (BRQ), Current Liquidity (CL) and Debt Composition (DC), showed a statistically significant relationship with the amount invested in education. Through the results, we note the importance of using accounting indicators to suggest ways that can help public managers in making a decision to invest more or not, that is, whether it is better to increase or reduce their assets and liabilities in order to increasingly improve the services provided to society, generating more efficiency and quality for its stakeholders.