The Proteus of abuse under Parliament’s eyes: truth of State budgeting and accountability in the Empire of Brazil

Abstract

This text aims to explain why, during the Empire of Brazil, a Court of Accounts was not created and the laws of public accounting were not codified, although such matters have been discussed in the Parliament since 1826.

The problem was considered in the context of discussions on the truth of budgets and the analysis took into account the points of view of luzias and saquaremas regarding the inspection of public accounts and the division of powers. The institutional reforms of the public accounting and accountability system were analysed in the light of parliamentary debates and the supporting bibliography. The approach was historical institutionalist and the sources were the reports of the Ministers of Finance, the records of the House of Representatives and the Senate, newspapers and books of the time.