Informational Capacity of the Financial Statements of Brazilian Banks: An Analysis from the Perspective of Liquidity Risk

This study aims to analyze the financial statements of Brazilian banks, from the perspective of liquidity risk by exploring whether the Statements of Cash Flows and Notes to these companies meet the requirements concerning the dissemination of liquidity risk demands by IFRS 7 and the principles of the Basel Committee. Additionally, we investigated whether the coefficients of box cover these companies, calculated from the DFC, show some respect to compliance with those requirements. For that, was raised a theoretical framework about liquidity and liquidity risk, and the role of DFC and Notes before the disclosure of information relating to liquidity. Accordingly, an exploratory study was conducted with the 28 companies that comprise the Banks segment of the BM&F Bovespa, through its financial statements for the year 2009. The main results indicate a low capacity of these informative statements about the situation and liquidity risk, given that only 60.71% of the requirements contained in the standards were met. Still, we conclude that the mere fact that it has good cash coverage ratios is not a necessary condition to be among the companies that meet the disclosure requirements of the situation and liquidity risk, or vice versa. Thus, even when companies have good liquidity indicators, the information required by the IASB and the BCBS has not been disclosed in its financial statements.