Changes in Management Accounting Practices Identified in the Administration Reports of Family-owned Businesses

This study employs critical discourse analysis to examine the treatment of management accounting practices in the administrative reports of family businesses in Brazil to determine if there have been changes in these practices and whether changes are related to generational succession. The 1998-2007 administrative reports of nine companies with publicly traded stocks were analyzed. These companies were identified from the list of the 500 largest companies in Brazil reported in the 2007 special issue of Exame Magazine on Brazil's Best and Biggest Companies. The representational analysis of discourse in the administrative reports of these companies revealed the presence of all four of the stages of management accounting described by IMAP 1 (IFAC, 1998). While changes were identified in management accounting practices, no relation was found between these changes and generational succession in the management of the companies studied.. As a limitation to the study, it is observed that the administrative reports may not reflect the administrative discourse of these companies as a whole and that, being subjective, imprecision in interpretation is a possibility.