Evidenciação das Despesas da Covid-19 nas Notas Explicativas: Análise nas Universidades Federais.

The accounting information disclosed in the Financial Statements Applied to the Public Sector (DCASP) and Explanatory Notes (NE's) are essential for monitoring, controlling and rendering accounts in any field of activity. In this context, this study aimed to investigate how expenses with actions to face the Covid-19 pandemic were evidenced in the NE's of the DCASP of the Federal Institutions of Higher Education (IFES), as the Brazilian Federal Universities are known. The work brought together concepts under the aspects of the theory of communication and accounting disclosure. Methodologically, a descriptive and exploratory approach was used. For the technical procedures, a documental and bibliographical analysis was carried out. The NE's provided on the institutional websites were analyzed, referring to the fourth quarter of 2020 (end of the financial year), this being the first year of impact of expenses with Covid-19 evidenced in the DCASP. The results showed that 30 of the 66 universities did not disclose information on expenses to face Covid-19, which indicates that the accounting of these institutions needs to advance and develop. With regard to the qualitative aspect of accounting information, these universities did not fully comply with the qualitative characteristics, especially with regard to the comprehensibility and comparability of reported information. The study contributes to the understanding of the relevance that the quality of communication and disclosure of accounting information has, both for transparency and publicity purposes and for the accountability of actions taken and resources used by public institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]