Proposal For An Instrument To Investigate The Usefulness And Applicability Of Financial Statement Analysis

Abstract

The aim of this research was to propose a data collection instrument to diagnose the usefulness and applicability of financial statement analysis in managerial decision-making. To this end, a questionnaire was constructed with thirty questions based on a review of the literature on financial statement analysis and on the experience of the researchers involved in this research. The instrument was submitted to the external validation technique and was therefore applied to a group of decision-makers in order to identify possible spelling mistakes, inconsistencies, problems of clarity and objectivity in the questions. The instrument was then subjected to statistical validation using Crombach's alpha in order to estimate the degree of reliability. The results of the Crombach's alpha indicated that the instrument was reliable and consistent in terms of its purpose. After this verification, the questionnaire was applied to a group of managers and owners/partners qualified as decision-makers in companies in the municipalities of Ituiutaba and Uberlândia, in the state of Minas Gerais. The results showed that a large proportion of decision-makers are not familiar with the tools used to analyze financial statements, suggesting that this is one of the main reasons why companies do not use this tool. The findings also revealed that, among the managers who use these tools, most use them because they consider them to be relevant to business decision-making. In addition, there was a significant association between higher education and knowledge of tools for analyzing financial statements.