ADMINISTRAȚIE ȘI MANAGEMENT PUBLIC 322019 139 [628200]

ADMINISTRAȚIE ȘI MANAGEMENT PUBLIC  32/2019 139

Functions of municipal comptroller offices: a study among
city halls from Pernambuco State

Thayse Kelly Galvão Neves de AZEVEDO1,
Carla Renata Silva LEITÃO2, Antônio André Cunha CALLADO3

Abstract: The research aimed to investigate the functions performed by the comptroller
offices in Pernambuco’s municipalities. Additionally, it investigated the existence of a
relationship between these functions and some characteristics of the municipalities, such as
current revenue, population size, area of the territorial unit and HDI. The methodology was configured as exploratory and descriptive. Regarding its techniques, direct documentation
(extensive direct observation with the application of a questionnaire) and indirect
documentation (bibliographic and documentary research) were used. As a result, it was observed that 79.07% of the municipalities stated that they perform the accounting
function, 81.40% for the managerial function, 46.51% for the tax function, 32.56% for the
protection and control of assets function, 100% the internal control function and 81.40%
the risk control function. In addition, the study found that only 23.26% of them perform all
functions of comptrollership, and that there are no statistically significant differences
between the variables current revenue, population size, area of the territorial unit and HDI of the municipality in relation to whether control functions are exerted. The study also
failed to verify any statistically significant association with respect to the mesoregion in
which the research respondent municipalities are inserted and to the amounts of
comptrollership functions exerted. And, although municipalities with up to two control functions, in relation to the number of functions, presented lower averages of current
income, population size, area of territorial unit and HDI, these were not statistically
significant.

Keywords : Controllership. Municipal Comptroller Office. Functions of the Comptroller
Office.

JEL: R1, R5, K23.
DOI: 10.24818/amp/2019.32-10

1 Master of Science in Controllership; Secretaria de Controlador ia do Estado de
Pernambuco; Recife; Brazil; [anonimizat].
2 PhD., Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco; Recife; Braz il; [anonimizat].
3 PhD., Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco; Recife; Brazil ; andrecallado
@yahoo.com.br. Thayse Kelly Galvão Neves de Azevedo, Carla Renata Silva Leitão , Antônio André
Cunha Callado (2019). Functions of municipal comptroller office s : a s t u d y a m o n g
city halls from Pernambuco State. Administratie si Management Public , (32), pp. 139-155,
DOI: 10.24818/amp/2019.32-160.

Functions of municipal comptroller offices: a study among city halls from Pernambuco State

140 ADMINISTRAȚIE ȘI MANAGEMENT PUBLIC  32/2019 Introduction

Comptroller offices assist public managers by providing informa tion on the
efficiency of public administration, becoming an essential elem ent in managing the
quality of expenditure, extrapol ating its notably formal and bu reaucratic aspects.
The activities carried out by comptroller offices should reflec t the various
functions that contemplate management control, including the in ternal control of
public entities. Chaves (2011) emphasizes that it is common to use the terms
"internal audit", "internal control" and "comptroller office" a s synonyms, however
in the public sector internal a udit is called internal control and external audit is
called external control; the deno mination of comptrollership ha s recently emerged
as a reference to the internal control of public expenditures.
In light of corruption scandals involving the management of pub lic
resources in Brazil over the years, it is observed that the emb ezzlement of this
treasury has compromised both confidence and credibility of the population
towards Brazilian public instituti ons, which have been increasi ngly questioned by
society.
One way to try to curb public agents’ corruption has been throu gh the
demand by society for transparency in the acts of managers and strengthening the
control of public resources (Machado & Tonin, 2015).
Control is one of the essential components of the administratio n, being of
extreme relevance to itself and its stakeholders. For Meirelles (2007), control in the
public administration is the facu lty of orientation and correct ion that a Power,
organ or authority exert on the conduct. Any organization resul ts in control. This
process contributes to minimize inappropriate behaviors, requir ing a degree of
compliance as well as the interac tion of various activities (Ta nnenbaum, 1975).
For Soares (2012), the implementation and maintenance of an Int ernal
Control System can not only enable the monitoring of the budget , financial,
accounting, equity and operationa l activities, as well as provi ding support and
guidance regarding the legality, morality and efficiency of pub lic activity, so as to
ensure that the interests of the community are being met.
In this sense, several authors have been demonstrating in their w o r k t h e
importance of comptrollership implementation in the public sect or. However,
specifically regarding the Munic ipal Comptroller Office, it was verified that there
are few published works in this area, where some authors addres s the importance of
its implementation, such as Peixe (1996), Almeida, Taffarel and Gerigk (2003),
Cruz, Spinelli, Silva and Carvalho (2014), Gomes, Peter, Machad o and Oliveira
(2013) and Silva, Carneiro and Ramos (2015).
It is noteworthy that although the Federal Constitution require s the
performance of an internal control unit, it occurs that in muni cipalities even after
almost three decades of promulgation of the Constitution this l egal requirement is
still being implemented. Cruz et al. (2014) emphasizes that not m a n y
municipalities created internal control systems. In addition, n ot many Brazilian
municipalities have developed internal control units capable of acting more

Functions of municipal comptroller offices: a study among city halls from Pernambuco State

ADMINISTRAȚIE ȘI MANAGEMENT PUBLIC  32/2019 141 incisively in the fulfilment of their functions, in their most comprehensive form.
There is a mismatch with the process in the federal government, characterized by
the strengthening of the Comptroller-General Office (CGU), curr ently the Federal
Ministry of Transparency and Comptroller-General Office, and it s consolidation in
the prevention and struggle against corruption.
For Araújo (2015), examining the controls implemented in munici palities
means not only ensuring that corrective actions are in place wi thin their internal
control systems, but also actions that prevent the occurrence o f fraud or
irregularities that influence p erformance and results of the ac tivities.
Therefore, control bodies must carry out activities that contem plate the
whole object of control in public management, including formal and managerial
aspects. In this sense, the activities carried out by comptroll er offices should reflect
the various functions that contemplate management control, incl uding the internal
control of the public entities.
In this context, the objective of this study is to investigate the
comptrollership functions exercised by the municipalities’ comp troller offices in
Pernambuco. Additionally, it also seeks to observe the existenc e of a relationship
between these functions and some c haracteristics of the municip alities.
1. Literature Review

1.1 Controllership and its functions
Regarding the concept of Controllership, there is no consensus in the
literature among authors, corroborating that there are still ma ny doubts about the
t o p i c o n t h e s c r e e n . T h u s , t h e d i f f e r e n t a p p r o a c h e s f o u n d w i l l be presented
according to three perspectives identified: area of knowledge, procedural aspects
and organizational unit.
A s a b r a n c h o f k n o w l ed g e , s o m e d e f i n i t i o n s o f C o n t r o l l e r s h i p h a ve been
verified in the literature. In this perspective, Tung (1980) em phasizes that
controllership is a science resp onsible for investigating the o bjectives and
achievements of the entity from the economic point of view. The author adds that
controllership contemplates the e ntity’s planning, analysis and control, not limited
to the study of accounting facts.
The second perspective verified in the literature brings Contro llership as
procedural aspects. This way, Fiske (1940) states that controll ership is an
informative function that accumulates, analyzes and informs the administration,
investor-owners and other essential shareholders, financial and statistical data.
The third perspective refers to the organizational aspects, tha t is, how
controllership is formally structured within organizations. Cro zatti (2003, p.17)
describes that the controlling unit is responsible for the syne rgy among areas,
optimization of economic results, management of the administrat ion information
systems, provision of quantitati ve assessments and the elaborat ion of strategic
planning.

Functions of municipal comptroller offices: a study among city halls from Pernambuco State

142 ADMINISTRAȚIE ȘI MANAGEMENT PUBLIC  32/2019 In Borinelli's view (2006), although in practice typical contro llership
activities exist in a company, independently of a formal sector named “controller’s
office”; there must be, in the formal system of organizations, an organizational unit
that performs the Controllershi p activities of corporate or div isional character,
which need to be developed in a macro way, and that consolidate the activities
carried out in a decentralized manner.
It is observed in the literature an absence of uniformity regar ding the
activities to be exercised by controllers in the organizations. In this context,
defining the functions of controllership becomes quite complex (Oliveira, Perez Jr
& Silva, 2002; Siqueira & Soltelinho, 2001; Suzart, Marcelino & Rocha, 2011),
which is influenced by the struc ture and managerial model adopt ed by each
organization.
In this way, different opinions v erified in the literature rega rding the
functions that Controllership sh all have will be p resented as f ollows.
Johnson (1971) defines the role of controllership from the stru cturing of
five key areas that focus on organizational outcomes, namely: a ccounting system
and the organization of accounting; providing regular reports t o managers; break-
even analysis; long-term planning; and monitoring of results wi th research and
development.
For Kanitz (1976), the functions of controllership encompass in formation,
motivation, coordination, evaluation, planning and follow-up. A s for the public
area, Thompson, Fred and Jones (1986) complement that they ough t to contemplate
support in the preparation, formulation and publication of budg ets.
In another perspective, Willson, Roehl-Anderson and Bragg (1995 ) present
functions that can be considered typical of controllership, for example:
 planning function: it is related to the development of an integ rated
operational plan, in the short and long term, in line with the institution's
goals and objectives;
 control function: it consists of elaborating standards, destine d to
evaluate the organizational perf ormance and to compare the resu lts
obtained;
 informative function: refers to the activities of preparing, an alyzing and
interpreting reports that contain important data to the decisio n-making
process;
 accounting function: includes the activities performed by finan cial, tax
and cost accounting, aiming, particularly, to provide essential
information to the decision-making process.
Almeida, Parisi and Pereira (1999) teach that the functions exe rcised by
controllership should aim at the organization’s management, so they should
contemplate the highlights below:
 To subsidize the management process, which refers to the suppor t and
structuring of its phases, through the use of an information sy stem to aid
decision making;

Functions of municipal comptroller offices: a study among city halls from Pernambuco State

ADMINISTRAȚIE ȘI MANAGEMENT PUBLIC  32/2019 143  Support the performance evaluation, which includes elaborating the
performance analysis on areas, managers and on the entity itsel f;
 Support the results assessment, which is related to analysis an d
evaluation of the institution's results in all dimensions, coll aborating on
the development of standards;
 Managing information systems, which consists of elaborating dec ision
models and information models to management support;
 Meet the market agents, which re fers to the activities performe d to meet
external demands of the organization.
According to Cavalcanti (2001), controllership helps managers t o plan and
control the activities of the organization through four main fu nctions:
 Planning – managing the process of identifying what is to be do ne, what
is the deadline for execution and how it should be done. This p rocess is
dynamic, since it seeks to highlight the resources available an d
necessary for the compan y to face competition;
 Organization – seeks to identif y qualified professionals, techn ology and
facilities so that the controllership can fulfill its role effe ctively;
 Direction – to ensure the synergy between human, financial, mat erial
and technological resources, aim ing at fulfilling the mission a nd future
vision of the company;
 Evaluation – to develop a system for measuring objectives and g oals
established by the company with the purpose of interpreting the results,
in order to define trends and interrelations among the variable s that
affect, in a positive and / or n egative way, its business.
Oliveira et al. (2002) also point out several functions, of whi ch the most
important for authors are: to organize and report relevant info rmation and data, to
maintain permanent monitoring of controls and to exert force or influence capable
of interfering on decisions.
However, Borinelli (2006), by p roposing the ECBC, followed an
understanding along the same lines as Willson, Roehl-Anderson a nd Bragg (1995)
and brought the following functions as typical of controllershi p:
 accounting function: corresponds to the management of activitie s
developed by financial accounting;
 managerial-strategic function: it is related to the activities that aim to
support decision-making and achievement of the organizational objectives;
 cost function: it is related to the activities developed by cos t accounting;
 fiscal function: corresponds to the management of activities de veloped
by tax accounting;
 asset protection and control fu nction: includes the activities to safeguard
the assets of the organization;
 internal control function: it is related to the development,
implementation and monitoring of the internal control system;

Functions of municipal comptroller offices: a study among city halls from Pernambuco State

144 ADMINISTRAȚIE ȘI MANAGEMENT PUBLIC  32/2019  risk control function: it is linked to the activities of risk m anagement
with demonstration of their effects;
 information management function: these activities involve the c reation
and modeling of accounting, financial, economic, patrimonial an d
management information systems.
Although the literature does not distinguish the controllership activities that
should be exercised by private and public spheres, it was obser ved that regarding
the Municipal Comptroller Office s there is a study of Almeida, Taffarel and Gerigk
(2003) where they affirm that among the several functions carri ed out, it is
important:
 implement a new system of intern al control to the departments a nd
municipal funds secretariats, through an information system;
 help define goals for the Municipal Administration;
 monitor the implementation of th e targets, demanding the expect ed
results and correcting any distortions that may occur;
 provide the Mayor, Secretaries and the Managers of the Indirect
Administration with timely and contextualized information;
 controlling revenues and expenses by studying their trends;
 study the modifications in the relevant Legislation;
 control the budgetary and financial execution of both direct an d indirect
administrations;
 propose alternatives and solutions for problems detected;
 filter data, preparing useful, clear and objective information;
 to control, based on the data of the Accounting Department, the
percentages and indices imposed by the current Legislation;
 take part in the discussion and preparation of the Multi-Year P lan
(PPA), the Budget Guidelines Law (LDO) and the Annual Budget La w
(LOA); and
 make information available to the Municipal Legislative and to the
population.
It is observed once again that there is no consensus in the lit erature when
addressing the functions of the Controllership. But, it is veri fied that exercising the
informational support to assist public managers in the executio n of their activities
is a central axis.
For purposes of this study, the functions attributed to the Com ptroller
Offices, verified in the research by Suzart et al. (2011): acco unting, managerial-
strategic, tax, asset protection and control, internal control and risk control
It is observed that the authors listed six functions that were identified in the
execution of the activities of some state and federal comptroll er offices. These
functions encompass several activities necessary for the contro l bodies to protect
the public patrimony and to assist in their accountability.

Functions of municipal comptroller offices: a study among city halls from Pernambuco State

ADMINISTRAȚIE ȘI MANAGEMENT PUBLIC  32/2019 145 1.2 Municipal Comptroller Offices

Municipalities in general, when p erforming their routines to ca rry out their
functions, execute, in some way, internal control practices on the actions of public
administration. However, as discussed previously, there is a le gal framework that
subsidizes and enforces the supervision of municipal administra tive actions carried
out through an internal control system.
For Carneiro Júnior and Oliveira (2012), internal controls, in the context of
public administration, have gained notability in recent years, especially with the
advent of the LRF (Fiscal Responsibility Law), which forced fed eral, state and
municipal governments to take greater responsibility for public spendings, in order
to avoid public deficit or even having benefits and funds cut f or interference in
public money.
According to Soares (2012), the need to implement ICS in Public
Administration structures is proven not only by its legal requi rement, but also by
the need to supervise and guide public management for the benef it of society.
The inadequate use of public resources, especially in the munic ipal sphere,
often refers to the lack of an efficient and effective control in public management,
which also causes the generation of debts that can affect the p lanning of these
entities in the short and long term.
Almeida, Taffarel and Gerigk (2003) point out that managers who use
control procedures have a tool that can help them in defining p arameters to monitor
the execution of revenues and expenses, and also allows the cor rection of
distortions that may affect the objectives defined for the orga nization, whether they
are deficiencies in the execution of expenses or even due to no n-realization of
revenues foreseen in the budgetary planning of the municipality .
This understanding is ratified by Ching (2006), since the autho r presents
comptrollership as the area responsible for evaluating possibil ities, elaborating
policies, budgets, establishing control standards and structuri ng an information
system to meet management needs.
According to Vasconcelos, Sampaio, Silva Neto and Duque (2012),
comptroller offices become an important aid to municipal public management,
since it helps municipalities to a chieve efficiency, effectiven ess and cost-
effectiveness in order to ensure the transparency of the acts p racticed by the public
administrator.
This understanding is confirmed by Slomski (2001) when he state s that in
municipalities, the Comptroller Office manages an entire system of economic-
physical-financial information, instrumentalizing managers to m onitor the
economic results generated from the activities.
Cavalcante and De Luca (2013) point out that the government's
comptrollership has as basic pillars both transparency and acco untability. Through
these pillars, municipal internal controls tend to demonstrate the efficiency of their
services through transparent accounts that justify the collecti on of the various taxes
levied on the population (Pereira & Rezende, 2013).

Functions of municipal comptroller offices: a study among city halls from Pernambuco State

146 ADMINISTRAȚIE ȘI MANAGEMENT PUBLIC  32/2019 In addition, Roehl-Anderson & Bragg (1996) point out that it is through
this unity that managers are aided by consistent information, e nabling them to
make decisions aligned with the organization's goals. Kalife (2 004) complements
this idea by stating that Comptro llership has developed prevent ive control projects
with the objective of making management transparent, reducing p ublic spending
and promoting the efficiency and effectiveness of municipal act ivities.
In this context, according to Scarpin and Slomski (2007), contr ollership
assumes the responsibility of improving control mechanisms that h e l p t h e
organization reach the "optimal".
Therefore, it is necessary to implement municipal comptroller o ffices in
order to assess the correct application of resources by manager s o f t h e v a r i o u s
executive bodies comprehended by the municipal government, alwa ys observing
the effectiveness, efficiency and cost-benefit of information ( Cavalcante, Peter &
Machado, 2011).
This need is ratified by Cruz and Glock (2003) when they assert t h a t
internal control in municipal governments must be exercised thr ough an
organizational structure (administration) with pre-established control mechanisms,
which includes the provision of responsibilities, work routines and procedures for
review, work approval and registration, from accounting and adm inistrative aspects
to environmental and cultural aspects.
Thus, it can be inferred that the objective of internal control i s t o a c t ,
simultaneously, as an aid mechanism for public administrators a nd as an instrument
of protection and defense of collective interest, ensuring that operations are
conducted in an economical, efficient and effective manner. Bes ides, it aims to
safeguard public resources against waste, abuse, errors, fraud and irregularities,
ensuring a good management of the treasury (Cavalcante et al, 2 011).
It is worth to note that, according to Solle (2003), from an op erational point
of view, these organizational units help managers and, for that , they must be
structured in line with the organization's mission. However, Th ompson and Jones
( 1 9 8 6 ) p o i n t o u t t h a t i t i s v e r i f i e d i n m a n y c a s e s w i t h i n t h e p ublic sector the
directioning of these control bodies to the monitoring of budge t execution.
On the other hand, Peter et al. (2003, p.8) argue that "public controllership
assumes the existence of a participatory, continuous and integr ated planning
system", and plays a role in evaluating management results (Suz art et al., 2011).
To that end, Chiarelli and Cherobim (2009) emphasize that Munic ipal
Internal Control is seen as a relevant organizational resource for decision making,
generating benefits and savings for the sustainability of munic ipal public
administration. Furthermore, it provides support and guidance r egarding legality
and cost-effectiveness in relat ed areas, collecting various ind icators.
Thus, it is observed the need to implement efficient control pr actices in the
municipalities by means of an organizational unit, aiming at mi nimizing possible
public resource embezzlement, as well as optimizing budgetary a nd financial
execution, contributing to the improvement of public spending t hrough the
management of internal controls.

Functions of municipal comptroller offices: a study among city halls from Pernambuco State

ADMINISTRAȚIE ȘI MANAGEMENT PUBLIC  32/2019 147 2. Methodology

The methodology considered to carry out this research was confi gured as
being exploratory and descriptive. According to Gil (1999), exp loratory research
aims to present an overview of a fact that has not yet been exp lored in depth, while
descriptive research seeks to describe the characteristics of a particular population
or phenomenon or to establish relationships among variables. Ho wever, the main
purpose of this type of research, according to Gil, is to promo te the improvement of
ideas. As a result of the objectiv e established, field research was chosen.
With regard to techniques, both direct and indirect documentati on were
used. In the indirect documentation, bibliographical and docume ntary research
were carried out. The direct documentation corresponded to exte nsive direct
observation with the proposition of a questionnaire.
The structured questionnaire, us ed as an instrument for data co llection, was
made available via Surveymonkey to the Central Internal Control Unit (UCCI) of
the Municipalities of the State o f Pernambuco, which can assume t h e
denominations of Internal Control or Comptroller General. Secon dary sources of
data were the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics ( IBGE) and the
National Treasury Secretariat (STN).
The research universe was established considering the municipal ities that
submitted Internal Control Report to the Court of Auditors of t he State of
Pernambuco (TCE / PE) in the year 2015, on the annual accounts for the previous
year, contemplating 183 (one hundred and eighty and three) muni cipalities of
Pernambuco. It is noteworthy that although the questionnaire wa s sent to the 183
municipalities, the analysis of the results was carried out con sidering those that had
the questionnaire of the research fully responded. The question naire obtained 43
responses, achieving a response rate of 23.50%.
It is important to highlight that for the validation of the que stionnaire, two
techniques were used: focus group with specialists on the subje ct and pre-testing on
a sample from the universe.
After data collection, these were tabulated using Microsoft Exc el, in order
to obtain the percentage distributions of the answers obtained. Later, in order to
verify whether there was a relationship between the functions p erformed by the
comptrollers and the characteristics of the municipalities, an inferential study was
performed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SP SS) 22.0.
3. Analysis of results

Based on data collected regarding the activities developed by U CCIs, it
was verified that only 23.26% out of the effective universe of this study exert all
the comptrollership functions. Thus, 76.74% do not perform all the functions, as
shown in Table 1. Therefore, it was observed that despite the e xistence of UCCIs,
there is still a long way to go for the actions carried out by these areas in order to

Functions of municipal comptroller offices: a study among city halls from Pernambuco State

148 ADMINISTRAȚIE ȘI MANAGEMENT PUBLIC  32/2019 cover all essential activities f o r t h e e f f e c t i v e n e s s o f t h e m u n icipalities' control
bodies actuation.

Table 1. Performing of all Controlling functions
Performing all
Controlling
Functions Frequency Percentage
No 33 76,74%
Yes 10 23,26%
Total 43 100,00%
(Source : Research Data)

In addition, it was verified that the internal control function is the only one
exercised by the whole effective universe of the research, wher eas the tax function
is exercised by 53.49%, according to Table 2. This fact may sug gest that the
internal control function, often confused as being the only fun ction performed by
Comptrollership, is the most important and recognized by intern al control
professionals.

Table 2. Controlling Functions Executed
Controlling Functions Frequency Percentage
Internal Control 43 100,00%
Mana gerial Strate gic 35 81,40%
Accountin g 34 79,07%
Asset Protection and Control 29 67,44%
Risk Control 29 67,44%
Tax 23 53,49%
(Source : Research Data)

In another perspective, it was observed, when analyzing the amo unt of
comptroller functions performed b y U C C I s , t h a t o n l y 2 . 3 3 % p e r f o rmed 01
function, while 23.26% performed 06 Functions, as shown in Tabl e 3.

Table 3. Number of contro lling functions performed
Quantity of Functions
Performed Frequency Percentage
01 Function 01 2,33%
02 Functions 02 4,65%
03 Functions 08 18,60%
04 Functions 06 13,95%
05 Functions 16 37,21%
06 Functions 10 23,26%
Total 43 100,00%
(Source : Research Data)

Functions of municipal comptroller offices: a study among city halls from Pernambuco State

ADMINISTRAȚIE ȘI MANAGEMENT PUBLIC  32/2019 149 In addition, it was verified that only 03 respondents execute u p to 02
Controlling Functions, corresponding to 6.98%. Thus, it was ver ified that 93.02%,
representing 40 respondents, performed from 03 up to 06 Control ling Functions.
These findings demonstrate the lack of uniformity in regard to
effectiveness of the actions carried out by municipal control.
Aiming to verify the existence of a relationship between the fu nctions
performed by local comptroller offices and the characteristics of the municipalities
of Pernambuco, an inferential st udy was carried out with the fo llowing variables:
mesoregion, current revenue, population size, territorial area of the unit (km2),
Human Development Index (HDI).
Initially, a normality test was p erformed to gauge whether the variable was
from a population which present a normal distribution. As for q uantitative
variables, the Shapiro-Wilk test was performed. Among the conti nuous variables,
only data referring to the variable "HDI" followed a normal dis tribution, according
to Table 4.

Table 4. Normality test for some variables of interest, conside ring whether
municipalities have all controllin g functions and the number of controlling
functions
Normality test Shapiro-Wilk Test
Statistics Degrees of
Exercises all
Current Revenue Yes 0,595 10
No 0,516 33
Population Size Yes 0,770 10
No 0,480 33
Area of the territorial unit (km²) Yes 0,668 10
No 0,688 33
HDI Yes 0,909 10
No 0,939 33
Quantity of
Current Revenue Up to 02 0,985 03
03 to 06 0,546 40
Population Size Up to 02 0,930 03
03 to 06 0,513 40
Area of the territorial unit (km²) Até 02 0,868 03
03 to 06 0,696 40
HDI Up to 02 0,957 03
03 to 06 0,963 40
(Source : elaborated by the authors)
Note: The significance level of 0.05 was adopted for testing.

Functions of municipal comptroller offices: a study among city halls from Pernambuco State

150 ADMINISTRAȚIE ȘI MANAGEMENT PUBLIC  32/2019 For good performance of parametric tests it is required that th e variances
involved be homogeneous, making comparisons possible. Thus, we performed the
Levene Test, since we compared th e variances in groups of obser vations derived
from continuous distributions. According to Table 5, it can be stated that the
variances do not differ statistically among the variables "Curr ent Revenue",
"population size", "area of the territorial unit (km²)” and" HD I ".

Table 5. Homogeneity test on the variance for some variables of interest,
considering whether the municipa lities carry out all the contro lling functions
Variables Method Levene
Test gl1 gl2 p-value
Current Revenue Based on Average 0,395 01 41 0,533
Based on Median 0,062 01 41 0,804
Population Size Based on Average 0,643 01 41 0,427
Based on Median 0,212 01 41 0,648
Area of the territorial unit
(km²) Based on Average 2,969 01 41 0,092
Based on Median 0,859 01 41 0,360
HDI Based on Average 0,360 01 41 0,552
Based on Median 0,458 01 41 0,502
(Source : elaborated by the authors)
Note: The significance level of 0.05 was adopted to the tests.

After checking quantitative variab les for normality and homogen eity, the
Mann Whitney non-parametric test was applied to analyze the var iables that do not
present a normal distribution, an d the Student’s t test to anal yze the “HDI” variable,
since it has a distribution within normality.
Table 6 shows that there are no statistically significant diffe rences among
the variables current revenue , population size , area of the territorial unit and HDI
of the municipality, in relatio n to whether all control functio ns are performed.

Table 6. Descriptive measures of variables considering whether municipalities
carry out or not all control functions
Variables Performs all
Control
FunctionsN Average Standard
deviation p-value
Current Revenue Yes 10 116.305.618 ,01 172.039.383 ,57 0,6051
No 33 130.938.604,19 235.494.716,03
Population Size Yes 10 53.533,00 56.755,10 0,3731
No 33 66.462,12 131.657,34
Area of the
territorial unit (km²) Yes 10 473,20 587,31 0,7961
No 33 363,81 380,64
HDI Yes 10 0,62 0,04 0,2082
No 33 0,60 0,05
(Source: elaborated by the authors)
Note: 1- Mann Whitney non-parametric test; 2- Student’s t test for independent samples; 3-
The significance level of 0.05 was adopted for the tests.

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ADMINISTRAȚIE ȘI MANAGEMENT PUBLIC  32/2019 151
T h e r e f o r e , t h e s t u d y d i d n o t i d e ntify results that could verify i f t h e
variables listed in Table 8 influ ence the exercise of all contr olling functions. From
another perspective, it was sought to analyze if these variable s influenced the
quantity of controlling functions performed.
It was verified that, in relation to the quantity of controllin g functions,
municipalities with up to two controlling functions had lower a verages of current
revenue, population size, area of the territorial unit and HDI, but this difference
was not statistically significant, according to Table 7.

Table 7. Descriptive measures of variables according
to the number of contro lling functions performed
Variables Number of
Controlling
Functions N Average Standard
deviation p-value1
Current Revenue Up to 02 03 29.786.361 ,55 2.322.878 ,09 0,2151
03to 06 40 134.866.775,84 227.124.963,22
Population Size Up to 02 03 13.245,00 633,68 0,2531
03 to 06 40 67.221,13 121.615,07
Area of the territorial
unit (km²) Up to 02 03 140,92 66,17 0,1271
03 to 06 40 407,87 442,17
HDI Up to 02 03 0,59 0,01 0,5922
03 to 06 40 0,61 0,05
(Source : elaborated by the authors)
Note: 1-Mann Whitney non-parametric test; 2- Student's t test f or independent samples; 3-
The significance level of 0.05 was adopted for the tests.

Finally, it was verified whether the exercise of all controllin g functions and
the quantity of functions exercised were influenced by the meso region in which the
municipalities are inserted. Ther efore, the Likelihood Ratio Te st was applied, since
it was a nominal variable.
The municipalities of Recife me tropolitan mesoregion that perfo rm all
control functions represent 42.9%, 12% in the mesoregions of Zo na da Mata e
A g r e s t e , a n d 3 6 . 4 % i n t h e m e s o r e g i o n s o f S e r t ã o a n d S ã o F r a n c i s co; and this
difference was not statistically significant.
As Table 8 displays, in relation to the number of control funct ions exerted,
only three municipalities in Zona da Mata and Agreste exercised up to 02 control
functions and it was not possible to verify any statistically s ignificant association
with the mesoregion.

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152 ADMINISTRAȚIE ȘI MANAGEMENT PUBLIC  32/2019 Table 8. Distribution of the muni cipalities of Pernambuco by me soregion
Control Functions Recife
Metropolitan Zona da
Mata and
AgresteSertão and
São
FranciscoTotal
N % n % N % n %
Executes all functions
Yes 03 42,9 03 12,0 04 36,4 10 23,3
No 04 57,1 22 88,0 07 63,6 33 76,7
Number of Functions
Up to 02 – – 03 12,0 – – 03 7,0
03 to 06 07 100,0 22 88,0 11 100,0 40 93,0
Total 07 100,0 25 100,0 11 100,0 43 100,0
(Source : elaborated by the authors)
Notes: 1- Likelihood Ratio Test;2- The significance level of 0. 05 was adopted for the test.

In view of the above, it was not possible to identify a signifi cant statistical
relationship between the control functions exercised and the ch aracteristics of the
municipalities, as well as between the quantity of control func tions executed and
the characteristics of municipalities.
4. Conclusions

The objective of the study was to investigate the functions of the municipal
comptroller offices of Pernambuco and whether there would be a relationship
between the functions performed and the characteristics of thes e municipalities.
As a result, it was observed, as for the organizational structu re, that the
terminology internal control i s t h e m o s t f r e q u e n t i n t h e u n i v e r s e r e s e a r c h e d .
Regarding the activities carried out by the UCCIs, they were gr ouped according to
the respective controlling function, where it was found that on ly 23.26% of the
actual universe of this study performed all the functions.
In this sense, analyzing the accounting function, it was observ ed that
79.07% of the municipalities reported to have it executed; rega rding the
managerial-strategic function it was found that this is contemp lated in 81.40% of
municipalities. When it comes to the tax function, it was verif ied that 46.51%
executed it in the actions developed by municipal control, whil e the function
protection and control of assets is performed by 32.56%. It sho uld be noted that
100% of the respondents perform the internal control function. The risk control
function was also analyzed, whic h is contemplated by 81.40% of the respondents.
As for the existence of a relationship between the functions pe rformed by
the comptroller offices and the characteristics of the municipa lities, it was observed
that there are no statistically significant differences between the variables current
revenue , population size , area of the territorial unit and HDI of the municipality, in
relation to whether all control functions are performed. In add ition, the study also

Functions of municipal comptroller offices: a study among city halls from Pernambuco State

ADMINISTRAȚIE ȘI MANAGEMENT PUBLIC  32/2019 153 failed to verify a statistically significant association with t he mesoregion in which
the respondent municipalities of the research are inserted and to the amounts of
controlling functions executed. However, municipalities with up to two controlling
functions had lower averages of current revenue, population siz e, area of territorial
unit and HDI, but this differen ce was not statistically signifi cant.
Finally, it is recommended to apply the research on the same mu nicipalities
in the future, seeking to identify whether there has been an ev olution on the results;
or in other States, for comparative purposes.

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