Business budget: Comparative study of national and international publications

Abstract

Motivated by the theoretical approach gap in local research budget, the article aims to compare the approaches in Brazilian studies on budget with those from international studies. The study, based on the concepts of science and on the role of theory and facts, reports the different research designs and believes that budget, in general, can be perceived as a complex phenomenon and it can be investigated from various theoretical perspectives such as the economic, psychological and sociological ones. In order to carry out the study, techniques on literature research and on content analysis are employed, being the research universe composed by published articles on budget in the area of administration in: 5 international journals, 17 national journals ranked as Qualis A2, B1, and B2 and five national congresses classified as Qualis E1 and E2, in a longitudinal section of five years (2006-2010) adding to a population of 1,456 articles and a final sample of 48 articles. As a result, it is clear that the budget issue in the accounting area is present in the light of various research approaches and that the studies in international journals appear in greater quantity than those observed in national studies. Although the number of articles published in Brazilian congresses is high, the final publication is low, which is a factor that may result from the absence of science triangulation – theory, design, fact – in many articles published in the congresses. The triangulation has appeared in 100% of published articles in journals and only in 22.8% of papers presented in conferences.

Keywords: budget, management accounting, research.