INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL: A FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING PERSPECTIVE IN BRAZILIAN CONTEXT FROM 1994 TO 2007

Abstract

Intellectual Capital (IC), also known as Intangible Assets (IA), have been presented to companies as a new source of competitiveness that needs to be recognized, measured and disclosured. However, IC multidisciplinary nature requires more accuracy researches, aiming to present its tendencies. Then, this paper intends to presents a mapping on IC research field in Brazil, from 1994 to 2007. The sample includes 45 scientific papers related to IC, published in Brazilian journals classified as A, B and C by CAPES, and A papers in Brazilian events, in the field of Management, Accounting and Tourism. It was used qualitative content analysis, mapping and bibliometric study. The most important results are: the bibliometric study showed that 49% of papers are exploratory, and 69% are empirical; sector of telecommunications and technology are the most investigated. Mapping demonstrated that the focus of studies on economic-financial performance, its recognition and registration on financial reports. The predominant category found was goodwill, and papers converge to external users. The primary conclusion is that among many papers on IC field, there isn’t an alignment of constitutive concepts, when compared to the concepts presented in theoretical revision.