Fraudes corporativas: uma análise dos seus determinantes e do seu efeito sobre o desempenho das empresas brasileiras de capital aberto

Abstract

Despite the relevance and impact of corporate fraud in the Brazilian market, little is known about the reasons for its occurrence. Previous studies have focused on the prevention and detection of fraud, disregarding what may be the determining factors of this behavior by companies in Brazil. Aiming to fill this gap, this study aimed to identify the determinants of corporate fraud in publicly traded Brazilian companies. As well as verifying the effects of experience in corporate fraud on the market performance of companies. Variables pointed out in the fraud literature in previous studies that are directly linked to the environment in which the firm is inserted and the internal characteristics of the firm itself were used in order to verify whether these variables can be considered as determinants of illegal corporate behavior. Additionally, it was analyzed whether the experience in corporate fraud interacts with the characteristics of the firm and the environment to explain the performance of the companies. Through Logistic Regression, it was identified that profitability, risk of bankruptcy, auditing company, size, political connections, economic scenario and sector are some internal and external characteristics of the company that contribute to explain the occurrence of this illegal behavior, thus determining the probability of occurrence of corporate fraud in the Brazilian market. Subsequently, through multiple linear regression, it was identified that in the presence of fraud experience, only the risk of bankruptcy ceases to be significant in economic and financial performance, allowing the inference that the greater the company's experience in engaging in fraud and the greater your risk of bankruptcy, the greater your performance (measured using Tobin's Q).