An Analysis of Impairment Recognition in the COVID-19 Period: Big Four versus Non-Big Four

RESUMO O período da pandemia da COVID-19 trouxe desafios significativos para as empresas em todo o mundo, afetando sua capacidade de geração de receitas e causando mudanças nas condições de mercado. Diante dessas circunstâncias, a avaliação das despesas com Impairment se tornou crucial para as empresas refletirem corretamente o valor recuperável de seus ativos e fornecer informações confiáveis aos usuários externos. Assim, buscou-se realizar uma análise comparativa sobre o reconhecimento de Impairment em empresas de capital aberto auditadas pelas Big Four (as quatro maiores empresas de auditoria do mundo) versus não Big Four durante o período da COVID-19. A intuição da análise é que empresas auditadas pelas empresas Big Four teriam mais dificuldades de utilizar os números contábeis de maneira oportunista do que as outras empresas. A análise busca compreender as abordagens adotadas, as políticas contábeis aplicadas e as divulgações relacionadas ao Impairment em diferentes contextos de auditoria. Espera-se que os resultados dessa análise contribuam para uma compreensão mais abrangente dos impactos da COVID-19 nas demonstrações financeiras, na avaliação do Impairment, e se a pandemia teria impacto na qualidade da auditoria. Além disso, o estudo visa fornecer insights relevantes para os profissionais da contabilidade, auditoria e investidores, auxiliando-os na tomada de decisões informadas e na avaliação da qualidade das informações contábeis em períodos de crise.

Palavras-chave: Impairment, COVID-19, Big Four, auditoria, políticas contábeis, divulgações

ABSTRACT The period of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought challenges to companies around the world, affecting their ability to generate revenue and causing changes in market conditions. Given these circumstances, the assessment of Impairment expenses has become crucial for companies to correctly reflect the recoverable value of their assets and provide serviced information to external users. Thus, we sought to carry out a comparative analysis on the recognition of Impairment in publicly traded companies audited by the Big Four (the four largest audit firms in the world) versus non-Big Four during the period of COVID-19. The intuition of the analysis is that the companies audited by the Big Four companies face more difficulties in using accounting numbers opportunistically than other companies. The analysis seeks to understand the approaches adopted, the accounting policies applied and the disclosures related to Impairment in different audit contexts. It is hoped that the results of this analysis will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the effects of COVID-19 on financial disciplines, loss assessment, and whether the pandemic would impact auditorium quality. In addition, the study aims to provide relevant insights for accounting, auditing and investors professionals, helping them to make outstanding decisions and to assess the quality of accounting information in times of crisis.

Keywords: Impairment, COVID-19, Big Four, audit, accounting policies, disclosures.

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