Integração da sustentabilidade no controle e na prestação de contas na gestão pública municipal sob os fundamentos da accountability.

Abstract

The discussion on sustainability and sustainable development in recent decades has taken a prominent role in international agendas and in the academe. From the 1990s, especially after the United Nations’ Agenda 21, regulatory instruments, public policies and several actions and guidelines focused on sustainability have been created. The commitment to sustainable development was renewed in the Final Document of the Conference 'Rio+20', in which the attending Heads of Government recognized the need for better integration of economic, social and environmental aspects of sustainable development at all levels. In this context, and considering that the municipal public sector plays a leading role in the areas of public health, pre-school and primary education and environmental services, this study seeks to discuss and analyse how the model of municipal governance, effective for 2014/2015, is incorporating sustainability in the control and transparency within the scope of accountability. We analyse the problem with a qualitative approach, under the theoretical principles of accountability, in which governments, as power holders, are accountable for all their actions to all citizens. In order to assist the understanding and the analysis of control and transparency, which result from a long process of historical development, we resort to the assumptions of dialectical historical materialism. We have also consulted and analysed the legislation that standardises accounting practices for city governments in Brazil, including the Federal Law no. 4320/1964, the 1988 Federal Constitution, the Fiscal Responsibility Law (FRL) and the Brazilian Accounting Standards Applied to the Public Sector (NBCASP). The United Nations’ Agenda 21, the Sustainable Development Indicators: Brazil, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Sustainable Cities Programme (PCS), and other indicators that evaluate social responsibility in the municipal public sector are the most important initiatives and tools for sustainability. Our study shows that Brazil has encouraging planning and public participation tools to incorporate sustainability in the control and accountability of city government actions. It is worth highlighting the budget system, which includes the PPA (Multi-Anual Plan), the LDO (Budget Guidelines Law) and the LOA (Annual Budget Law). These however are not aligned with the implementation of major policies, such as the municipalisation of the MDGs, for which the Federal Government has linked several social programs, such as the municipalisation of the MDGs, for which the Federal Government has linked several programs, such as Rede Cegonha (Maternity Program), Bolsa Familia (Family Allowance), Brazil Carinhoso (Affectionate Brazil), Mais Educação (More Education Program), Proteção Social Básica (Basic Social Protection Program), among others. The results achieved confirm the hypothesis that guided this study: the current model of municipal governance has various participatory governance tools geared towards sustainability, which are not totally integrated with control and accountability.