Mudança institucional e accountability: o caso do Tribunal de Contas da União

Abstract

This work reflects on the institutional changes that the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) went through. The theoretical framework of this research is the studies on accountability and historical Institutionalism. Here, we consider the TCU as the oldest institution of horizontal accountability in the Brazilian State. As a methodology, the study took a qualitative approach, examined the Annals of the National Constituent Assembly and the TCU resolutions, and used discourse analysis to analyze them. The turning point in the centenary institutional history of the Court of Auditors was the 1988 Constitution, which redesigned the institution's attributions. Our first hypothesis is that the expansion of attributions occurred from a pressure movement led by the TCU ministers themselves and institutionalized by the Congresses of the Courts of Auditors, a meeting that brought together the members of the Courts of Auditors in the country, in the National Constituent Assembly (ANC ) from 1987-1988. These actors, some from elective mandates, acted in a coordinated manner in the 1987-1988 ANC Subcommittees to participate in the debate on the constitution and nature of the Court of Auditors and sought to expand their powers. But, we work with a second hypothesis: that the affirmation of these changes in the Constitution in 1988 produced new impulses towards the Court reaffirming its independence in relation to the other powers of the Republic and this occurred with the strengthening of its technical body, consolidated with the creation of its own School of Government, dedicated to the training, qualification and training of civil servants and the external public, the Serzedello Correa Institute.