IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT IN SOCIAL REPORTS OF COMPANIES WITH FRAUDS DETECTED BY CVM.
Impression Management; Social Reporting; Greenwashing; Fraud; CVM.
This study aims to analyze whether companies listed on B3 detected as fraudulent by the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) have a higher level of Impression Management (IM) in their social reports compared to companies not detected as fraudulent, in the period preceding the discovery of fraud. Hooghiemstra (2000) defines IM as an attempt by management to proactively modify stakeholders' perceptions about the company's conditions or harmful events that have occurred, such as environmental disasters or corporate scandals resulting from fraud. To conduct the tests, the social reports of companies listed on B3 selected from 2010 to 2023 were examined. It is expected that the results of the research, in addition to contributing to the construction of scientific knowledge, will make it possible to identify textual patterns in social reports that potentially indicate the use of IM with the aim of camouflaging accounting fraud. Furthermore, it is expected to identify a possible connection between the phenomena of impression management, greenwashing and fraud, and to present the effects that may arise from it.