How do Internal Control Environments Connect to Sustainable Development to Curb Fraud in Brazil?

Debora Kobayashi Mendes de Oliveira, Joshua Onome Imoniana, Valmor Slomski, Luciane Reginato and Vilma Geni Slomski
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Debora Kobayashi Mendes de Oliveira: School of Economics, Management and Accounting, University of Sao Paulo, São Paulo 05508-070, Brazil
Joshua Onome Imoniana: School of Economics, Management and Accounting, University of Sao Paulo, São Paulo 05508-070, Brazil
Valmor Slomski: School of Economics, Management and Accounting, University of Sao Paulo, São Paulo 05508-070, Brazil
Luciane Reginato: School of Economics, Management and Accounting, University of Sao Paulo, São Paulo 05508-070, Brazil
Vilma Geni Slomski: FECAP—Fundação Escola de Comércio Álvares Penteado, São Paulo 01502-001, Brazil

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 9, 1-21

Abstract: This paper investigates the connection of internal control environment to sustainable development goals to curb fraud in Brazil. We drew on the interpretivist and constructivist perspectives with discourse analysis. Data corpus consists of interviews of 20 respondents who are external auditors, internal auditors, and employees of the controller’s department of an organization of ecommerce and archival documents. Results did not find any significant relationship between the connection of internal control functions (ICF) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) inasmuch as the connection of ICF to efficiency is tied to policies in compliance with standards, management tone, roles of enforcement, accountability, and adherence and obedience of rules. Triangulating SDG-16 with the dimensions of the control environment, fraud manifests mainly as a result of lack of commitment to integrity and values, as well as ineffectiveness of monitoring functions. This study concludes for the building of effective, accountable and even institutions with the embedding monitoring functions to sustain development goals. Since ex ante literatures examined the conceptual framework in isolation, this study connects it to sustainable development goals. Finally, this study signals an implication in the internal control literature as it clarifies the scientific theories and practical baseline of internal control environment to the policymakers, practitioners, and academia in view of the way forward on the connection of ICF to the SDG in the fight against corporate frauds.

Keywords: internal control environment; sustainable development; fraud; COSO; internal control function; sustainability development goals; discourse analysis; Brazil (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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