Tribunais de Contas do Brasil: um relatório acerca da eficiência técnica utilizando a análise envoltória de dados

Abstract

The control over public administration occurs in several aspects, whether between the Powers of the Republic (Executive, Legislative and Judiciary) or between a supervisory body over a public manager. The Courts of Accounts in Brazil are centuries-old institutions that play the constitutional role of overseeing the accounts of public managers, thus issuing prior opinions. Inspection over the inspection bodies must also exist, mainly by society. Thus, this should charge those efficiency in the use of public resources entrusted to them. To assess the efficiency of the Courts of Accounts in Brazil, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was used, a non-parametric technique that allows the comparison between Decision-Making Units (DMUs), which in this study are the Brazilian Courts of Accounts, that share the same list of resources and products, being used both in the private sector and in the public sector. The results pointed to a drop in the average and median efficiency of the Courts of Auditors in 2020, breaking a sequence of growth between 2017 and 2019; the growth trend resumed in 2021. This non-reaction to external adversities points to a lack of dynamic capacity of the Courts of Accounts to respond to a scenario of uncertainties, exposing a weakness in the strategic management of the Courts of Accounts. Using the targets (efficient projections) of all DMUs, a Generalized Linear Model (GLM) was prepared to guide the Courts of Accounts in defining their annual goals, seeking to achieve efficiency in the use of public resources. Finally, recommendations were proposed in order to assist the Courts of Accounts in the search for efficiency.