LEVEL OF COMPARABILITY IN ACCOUNTING PRACTICES OF INVENTORIES IN RETAIL COMPANIES LISTED ON BM&FBOVESPA

Abstract

This paper aims to verify the level of comparability of the accounting practices for the measurement, evaluation and disclosure of inventories of the retail companies listed on the BM&FBovespa in the period from 2010 to 2015. We analyzed 72 Financial Statements (FSs), including Explanatory Notes (ENs), of 14 retailers. Based on checklists, inventory value / total asset indicators, and the T index of comparability proposed by Taplin (2004), the comparability level of measurement methods (cost method - MC; net realizable value - NRV), evaluation methods (average cost - AC, first in, first out - FIFO, specific value - SV) and disclosure of data on inventories were verified. Regarding the measurement practice, a T index of an average of 0.521 was obtained, which indicates that approximately 50% of the companies in the sample measured their inventories by NRV, that is, they recognized losses between 2010 and 2015. Regarding the evaluation, The T index of 1.00 shows that retailers tend to evaluate their inventories by AC. Regarding the disclosure, there was a tendency for companies to fully adhere to the disclosure of the items required by CPC 16 (R1), which contributes to a better comparability of the information contained in the ENs. In addition, there were differences in the inventory value / total asset indicators between companies that measured inventories by the AC and those that adjusted to the NRV, which indicates that the measurement methods influence indicators that have inventory values as the basis. Therefore, the analysis of methods of measurement and evaluation can contribute to the comparability of DCs.