The effect of prior period adjustments on equity and ROE of companies listed on B3's New Market

Purpose: To analyze the effect of prior period adjustments (PPA) on Equity and on Return on Equity (ROE). Methodology: The Statements of Changes in Equity and the Explanatory Notes of the companies listed on the B3’s New Market, from 2010 to 2019, were researched. To analyze the effects of PPA on equity and ROE, the Wilcoxon test was applied. Results: The majority of the identified PPA pertain to changes in accounting policies, notably related to the application of IFRS 9/CPC 48 and IFRS 15/CPC 47 in 2018. This means that companies chose to recognize the effects of adopting these standards retrospectively, with a cumulative effect on equity, without presenting comparative information (accounting choice). There was a statistically significant difference between the average variations in adjusted and unadjusted equity and return on equity (ROE). In other words, it is observed that changes in accounting policies and/or error corrections influence the analysis of these indicators. It is important to note that PPA should not affect the net income for the current period, suggesting that the effects resulting from changes in accounting policies and errors tend to protect present and/or future results at the expense of past results. Contributions of the Study: The main contribution of the study lies in evaluating changes in the equity that do not necessarily result from operating performance or financing strategies, but arising from changes in accounting criteria or errors, which may affect other equity components.