Audit Mechanisms Reported by Companies Listed in the Differentiated Corporate Governance Levels and in the New Market of Bovespa

Abstract

Corporate governance is usually viewed as a high management activity. While this is a true assessment, corporate governance is only effective if it also produces positive results at all organizational levels, including the ethical behavior and conduct of the outfit’s employees at both the internal and external levels. This is where the link between corporate governance and the audit area appears. In this particular context, and under the assumption that corporate governance adopts the company’s transparent communication and management as one of its principles before the stakeholders, this study is aimed to identify the audit mechanisms reported by the companies listed in the Differential Corporate Governance Levels 1 and 2 and in New Market of Sao Paulo Stock Exchange (Bovespa). For the purposes of this work, audit mechanisms are the following agents within the context of corporate governance, namely: the audit committee, the internal audit and the external audit. This is an exploratory, qualitative survey supported by bibliographic and documental research techniques. Its results show that the reporting of the audit mechanisms in the context of the corporate governance is yet incipient in companies that, at least in theory, should have the best corporate governance practices in place considering they are listed as members of the Differentiated Corporate Governance Levels and of New Market of Bovespa.