O papel da informação contábil no processo decisório dos tempos religiosos: um estudo de caso com a Igreja Presbiteriana do Bairro dos Estados - PB

Abstract

The Federal Constitution of the Republic conferred on the churches and temples of any cult tax immunity, prohibiting the Union, the States and the Municipalities from instituting taxes on their patrimony and income. Taking into account this immunity and the fact that Brazil is one of the countries with the largest number of ancillary obligations, occupying most of the work time of accounting professionals and businessmen, this research investigated the effective role of accounting in the entities ecclesiastics, conducting a case study with the Presbyterian Church of the District of the States, located in João Pessoa. The research was carried out through a case study as the main method, and also literature review, especially accounting and tax law theorists. An interview was also conducted with the person responsible for the accounting of the church under study and an analysis of the financial statement generated internally. The study concluded that accounting is intrinsically linked to the decision-making process and to social control by the contributing members of the entity. Accounting helps in assessing the objectives of these entities, allowing each information user to draw conclusions about the scope of the mission proposed by the organization. Moreover, it was concluded that religious immunity is in some ways a disincentive to the maintenance of accounting in these entities, however, the managerial power of accounting brings advantages to the organizational management able to overcome their costs of issuance.