1. INTRODUCTION
The value of knowing has always had its expression in time. Man since the dawn of civilization, in evolutionary stages such as the era of grazing, agriculture, industry has always used the mind, but today it is more evolved with the use of intellectuality, that is, on one
refined use of intelligence, supported by multiple knowledge.
It is not overly rigorous to state that if knowledge has always been worth it, today it is worth perhaps more, to the point where it can be negotiated as if something material were. Today's globalized world is characterized by vertiginous progress in new information and telecommunications technologies.
Accounting, a science of the social cell's patrimony, has been following the evolution with seriousness and responsibility, in an era in which knowledge is an instrument of survival itself. More than physical capital, as the force that moves it, triggered by man, is worthy of expression, as value not only measurable, but especially usable to achieve the purposes proposed by the cells social.
Those who delve into the Neopatrimonialist doctrine can assess, in the
methodology proposed by Brazilian scientist Lopes de Sá, how much of
holistic and human can be found in the field of Accounting.
2. PHYSICAL CAPITAL
The traditional Statement called “Balance Sheet” reflects the capital of the social cell without, however, revealing the immaterial strength of the intellect as a transforming agent of wealth. It has not yet been considered, with necessary seriousness, to highlight the intangible assets of intellectuality as well as that of other intangibles.
What is evidenced is what the law allows, not what actually exists. Nominal capital is just a value assigned for the purpose of law, for physical expressions, but it hides the great aggregate, intangible power.
The concern is with possession and not with function, as well as the master Lopes de Sá writes in his many works.
Traditional accounting writing is limited to legal and institutional norms and has long failed to express the reality of the social cell's patrimony. Even at the speed with which the transformations occur, the balance can
express, unless using special resources on the
“potentials” (these so forgotten in the legal system).
This is the reason why the company, when negotiating its assets, if it does so by
which appears in the Balance Sheet, will escape reality. not without many
reasons that in case of sale, spin-off and incorporation, the
reassessments.
There is an account balance for legal purposes and a business balance for transaction purposes. Immaterial values can often exceed registered physical capital. The growing discrepancy between market value and book value is largely attributed by scholars to several factors, among which intellectual capital stands out.
There is a growing criticism of traditional accounting where only physical capital is mentioned and immaterial heritage is vaguely mentioned. There are cases of companies operating on the Internet such as Yahoo, Excite, Nescape, Cybercash, Amazon, Geocities and others, with balance sheets that present losses, but whose intangible assets (these represented by brands, knowing their goals, the value of their employees, the development of some information systems or efficient distribution channels) give them an appreciation impressive.
It is not the fact that the company makes a profit that leads to the valuation of a service which has the methodology, as occurs in computerized systems, such as the
“on line”. These systems are those for the integration of common computers, connected to a network and which even receive daily visits from people who also have computers. In this case, there is no physical value, but an intelligent process. These services live on the hope that the next day they will be visited again by thousands or millions of people. Right now such abstractions are worth money.
According to Leal (2000, p. 2), the value of a company in the market is represented by the value of its shares. When the price is higher than recorded in the books, it is mentioned that the company's potential productivity surplus represents an asset: invisible, unaccounted for and intangible.
There are the intangible assets that have their origin in the knowledge, skills and values of people. These assets generate economic value for the organization. According to Leal (2000), knowledge is a mixture of experiences, values, information and skills that constitute a context for evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information. It originates from the mental application of human beings. Within the organization, it is not only registered in documents, but also in forms, practices, processes and work standards.
- Knowledge originates and resides in people.
- Sharing knowledge requires a commitment.
- Technology allows for new knowledge behaviors.
- Sharing knowledge must be motivated and rewarded.
- Management support and resources are essential.
- Quantitative and qualitative measures are needed to assess a knowledge project initiative.
- Knowledge is creative and is directed to produce the unexpected.
At the moment, there is not, yet, in Accounting, an adequate classification and measurement of intangible assets or knowledge.
My way of understanding it lacks a lot of doctrine about it, that is, a competent scientific speculation to offer working standards.
The norm without science is always subjective and incompetent, but there are efforts, however, developed in order to carry out the classification and measurement of immaterials and knowledge. Despite this concern, the success of many, if not most, companies is still measured by physical capital and those who dare to measure the intellectual have not always done so on a reliable basis.
The future trend indicates that the intellectual asset will be more valued than the physical asset and its administration will be a critical factor for the success of the social cell.
There are still few organizations that are registering in their annual reports
(financial statements) a complementary statement on intangible assets and among these few companies we can mention some that value and present information about intangible assets: Xerox, Skandia, Dow Chemical, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce etc.
Swedish company Skandia, a pioneer in the development of a measurement tool for intangible assets, is a international organization working in insurance and financial services in the Nordic hinterland and other countries of the world. It is the case that seems to me the most widespread of these companies mentioned.
3. THE IMTERIAL WEALTH OF INTELLECTUALITY
One of the factors, today, not registered in the accounting statements and which is being valued, is knowledge. It is individual or collective knowledge that produces value. The individual asset refers to the worker's experience, education, knowledge, skills, training, incorporation of new technologies, values and attitudes.
As for the collective, it is the sum of all the qualities and skills of employees and management. Internal structure assets refer to work methods and procedures, software, database, research and development, management and management systems and the culture of organization. The greater the collective cultural capacity, the greater the probability of the prosperity of the social cell's wealth.
To achieve the company's prosperity and economy it is necessary to have a focus. This means a clear idea, a goal that everyone is committed to achieving. With unity, knowledge and responsibility, it is possible to achieve the desired focus. Knowledge is a force that drives the wealth structure forward.
Scholars are concerned with knowledge as a factor of strength and prosperity of the social cell and the community. If the social cell is prosperous, the community will also be prosperous (this is the main axiom of Prof. Antônio Lopes de Sá). The interaction between them, however, is what dictates the reciprocal influence.
This prosperity of the social cell's assets is made possible by accounting models that point to efficiency. The professional capable of developing these models is the accountant, who is a key player in the development of the organization and so of the environment. He has an important social function, which is to take the capital of the social cell to prosperity and this he does with application of scientific knowledge for the effectiveness of heritage and if there is heritage effectiveness, there is prosperity of company.
In 1999, a UN publication categorically stated that accounting professionals are essential to economic, social and even political development. of any nation and that this requires vigorous cultural formation and special assistance to them, whether from governments or from class institutions. (See Accountants in the United Nations view: Sá, July 2000).
Despite some efforts by the government and institutions, there is still a lack of masters and doctoral courses in Accounting accessible to people who wish to pursue their studies and thus be able to contribute to the culture accounting. Countless values are lost due to lack of opportunity in the university field and in scientific research in Brazil. These courses, for some time, were even a kind of monopoly in some institutions, significantly impairing research. A field of investigation such as that of intelligence factors on the movement of wealth would deserve greater breadth, which really did not occur.
The value of the social cell is located in personnel and management. These are the ones that move an entire equity structure, adding value to the equity.
Says Marti (2002, p. 4) that the personnel and management are the center of the organization, the intelligence and the soul of the company. It consists in the competence and capacity of employees, the company's commitment to help maintain these skills permanently tuned to updated, using for this, if necessary, the collaboration of external experts. Finally, it is the combination of experiences and innovation of these employees and the company's strategies to change or maintain this combination.
We know that heritage does not move by itself and cannot produce
useful if not activated (these are fundamental axioms in the scientific doctrine of Neopatrimonialism). Without wealth, man cannot satisfy the needs of the social cell. For a company to exist, the whole is necessary: man and wealth. About these realities, Professor Antônio Lopes de Sá (1999) created some propositions:
1. “The patrimonial function that results in the transformation is the effect of influences from the surroundings of wealth”;
2. Behavior of the influences of the surroundings on patrimonial effectiveness varies according to the dimensional relationships of cause, effect, quality, quantity, time and space;
3. When the endogenous influence is competent to reduce or nullify any exogenous ones that might disturb the effectiveness, it constitutes a special environmental relationship.;
4. If the cause is the quality of the human intellect in the social cell, if it is predominant in the endogenous environmental action, in order to reduce or cancel any exogenous environmental influences that might disturb the effectiveness, constitutes a driving cause of a special intellectual environmental function;
5. When heritage gives rise to the capture of intellectual forces and when these translate into an increase in the absolute effectiveness of the social cell, part of the benefit can be attributed to them.
6. "The quantification of the effects of the benefits of the intellectual special environmental heritage function, on the effectiveness of the social cell, depends on the quantification of a correlation between prosperity and the participatory qualification of a human element in the social cell, through the effective effects of your action.”
The endogenous intellectual influence can make the heritage to be effective or ineffective. It will tend to be effective if there is improvement in knowledge and ineffective if not. This is why it is important to study knowledge as an agent of transformation.
4. KNOWLEDGE AS A MOVEMENT AGENT
We know that the patrimonial environment alone does not move. Endogenous or exogenous environmental influence is necessary for it to change. Knowledge is an agent that can cause movement in the heritage environment. It's like a force that pushes a body forward. Depending on the strength this body can move slowly as well as fast. Thus, in Accounting, the pressure exerted by knowledge on the patrimonial environment makes it change slowly or quickly, depending on the strength of knowledge.
In an "A" company, where there is little knowledge and interest in innovation, the tendency is for the patrimonial environment to move slowly and the tendency to inefficiency will be greater than in a “B” social cell, where management and staff excel at absorbing knowledge, thus innovating management and personal. Where there is interest in knowledge, there is also a greater probability of success in asset management decisions, thus creating a climate of efficiency and wealth prosperity.
The important thing is that there is an efficient movement of the patrimonial environment. This occurs whenever the need is satisfied. The need is born in the person's mind. A store manager notices the lack of shirts in stock. The need to buy shirts to replenish the stock is created. With the purchase of shirts, the need is satisfied, promoting efficiency through the patrimonial phenomenon.
A baker needs flour to make bread. When the flour is purchased, the need is satisfied, with the efficiency and patrimonial phenomenon occurring. Therefore, there are countless patrimonial phenomena that occur at every moment in the social cell. This constant equity variation is caused by environmental influence. In the case referred to, it is an endogenous environmental influence, as it comes from the staff or management. They are the ones who have the knowledge and who also move the wealth of the social cell creating results.
We know that intellectuality creates value. This production of value, through knowledge, is what interests scholars. These recognize the intellectual value that acts on capital. Professor Antônio Lopes de Sá (2001) says about this: We all know that the same capital value, in the same line of business, in the same location and at the same time can produce different results if triggered by "Intelligences and Cultures" many different. Not allowing the recognition of this distinct action is alienating oneself from the reality of things.
Knowledge is a crucial factor in production and is also the key element in generating value in companies. It is the engine of companies. Despite the fact that knowledge is so important and fundamental to the life of the social cell, what is still seen is the lack of knowledge of personnel and management in the era that is called knowledge.
Management and staff need to adapt to a new reality. Modernity, information technology, the globalization of the economy and the search for total quality and knowledge are fundamental factors. Without a reorganization in the way we manage, we will not get out of the subcondition that puts us in a third world country. Investing in education, training and technology will lead us to a developed and first world country.
There is still a lack of knowledge and prosperity of social cells causing so many problems social conditions such as the misery of many people, poor distribution of wealth and income, violence, unemployment etc. What is wanted is the patrimonial prosperity of the social cell so that everyone can live with dignity.
There is tireless work by neopatrimonialist scientists to achieve this focus of heritage prosperity for the benefit of human beings. Accounting Neopatrimonialism has been showing Brazil and the world the path of patrimonial prosperity of the social cell. In this effort, studies related to the so-called intellectual capital emerged by some scientists.
5. INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL
It is a set of the human factor, client capital and organizational capital. There is a greater concern of scholars with intellectual capital. This phenomenon is not new, but scientists have only recently started to worry about it, and more as a factor in the organization's economic development. Regarding intellectual capital, Professor Antônio Lopes de Sá (1999) warns that the concept of “Intellectual Capital” that has been disseminated seems to sin for inadequacy of expression since it seems to me paradoxical to link what by nature is inert and the object of being acted upon (Capital) with what by nature it is immaterial and an agent of movement (the Intellectual), mixing factors that actually coexist in social cells that can, but that have a nature different.
Professor Lopes de Sá continues: Intellectual value can produce heritage, just as heritage can produce capturing intellectual value, in this interaction system where an important area of studies resides, but they are things different. When heritage gives rise to the capture of intellectual forces and when these translate into an increase in the absolute effectiveness of the social cell, part of the benefit can be attributed to it. What actually exists is an intellectual influence on capital, which does not seem appropriate to me, therefore, the use of the expression “intellectual capital” as a scientific or even empirical concept.
And it also teaches that: There is an intermediate zone, however, between man himself and wealth and that is where the aggregation of human value to value takes place. and it is in this that the studies of what is intended to be called Intellectual Accounting or Knowledge Accounting are located, which are increasingly accelerating environmental interests become the object of study in the science of accounting and human factors are included in them, as unmistakable agents, transforming forces and aggregable.
And he still says: "The current era requires the CAPITALIZATION OF INTELLECTS (in the sense of greater investments in the quality of agent intelligence on capital) in the search for the common effectiveness of the most important values of the social cells and to increase the effective value of the wealth."
Skyrme (2000, p. 1) states that first it is necessary to classify which are the different components that constitute intellectual capital. A gradual popular classification divides intellectual goods into three categories:
Human Capital: corresponds to individual intellectuality - knowledge, competence, experience, etc.
Structural capital: that which is taken after work by employees when they go home at night - processes, information system, basic data, etc.
Client capital: relationship with clients, brands, trademarks etc.
According to Leal (2000, p.3), intellectual capital is a concept that encompasses the final process of knowledge management, if proposes a model that has numbering by categories: the human factor, which are the individual skills applied to produce solutions; the customer, who is formed by their quality and their type of relationship, quality of services; and organizational capital, such as culture, norms and procedures. The model suggests that balancing these three components that generate intellectual capital arrives at the key to producing value and development.
And Pulic (2001, p.8) says that we are in a new era. After a long time of domination of classical factors of production, land, labor and capital, many scientists describe a phenomenon, not really new, but not actively discussed so far, capital intellectual.
Also, Seifert (apud Pulic, 2001, p. 1) highlights that future growth will be based on knowledge. Knowledge will be the production factor of the future. Drucker (apud Pulic, 2001, p. 8), a respected writer of management literature, adds: “Knowledge has been the key to the recovery of the world economy. The traditional factors of production, land, labor and capital are starting to decline.” Knowledge is coming as a factor of production. According to Strassmann (apud Pulic, 2001, p. 2), an American knowledge strategist, “The core of the problem is that many scientists have been talking about importance of intellectual capital, but the method of evaluating a corporation's success is based on capital. physicist."
And Ramos (1998, p.2) writes that the notion of intellectual capital is itself an extension of the idea of human capital. Intellectual capital can be defined as the knowledge, skills, experience, intuition and attitudes of the workforce. On the topic Altuve Godoy (2002, p. 10) wrote: Intellectual capital is an intangible value that must be incorporated in the financial statements, as part of the generation of values of all workers in an organization. There are some models that allow it to be quantified, it is still necessary to recognize that we must go deeper into it with more precision and have a greater number of followers to this important reference.
The concepts of balanced scorecard, economic added value, coaching, strategic planning, re-engineering, total quality, benmarching etc. they are some important tools that help to understand and apply immateriality assessments, albeit in a non-scientific way.
This is what some scholars think about intellectual capital and knowledge. What is clear and there is consensus among scientists is that we are in the era of valuing knowledge. Where traditional accounting structures (physical assets, labor, materials, etc.) face the problem, they are inadequate and obsolete and there is a tendency to measure and account for intangible values such as knowledge, brands, patents etc. in a peculiar and different way from what was considered a few years ago.
The best in this matter of immaterialities is found in authors from the 40s to the 70s of the last century.
6. CONCLUSION
When knowledge generates value, it is, in the market, the key to the success of social cells that compete in the economic, social and technological context of our time. There is a growing interest in measuring intangibles and managing intangibles, including wealth of knowledge. There is a growing appreciation of individual knowledge as well as of the organization as a whole. This knowledge is a dynamic agent of heritage and will influence wealth in order to be more dynamic and effective in its transformations. Being more effective will tend to wealth prosperity.
We should not forget and despise an accounting culture structure created until our days, but we should value it and set out for new cultural achievements in the field of Accounting.
Neopatrimonialism has been insisting on the importance of scientific research for Accounting. It is one of the ways to advance the search for the truth and to be at the force of the modern community, but it must not give in to the logic of the market. It must open up and value the human being and thus have the wealth of assets and the community.
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Per Werno Herckert
Columnist Brazil School
Economy - Brazil School
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/economia/conhecimento-um-ativo-imaterial.htm