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Abstract
This paper aims to develop and estimate a model to analyze the financial and
economic performance, measured by accounting indicators, for Brazilian agribusiness
firms. Using accounting information from 109 Brazilian agribusiness firms from 2003
through 2005, the paper evaluates how four structural characteristics (or factors) impact
six accounting indicators. The four factors are: (1st) type of chain where each firm
operates, (2nd) type of organizational structure (governance) adopted by the firm, (3rd)
type of segment inside each chain where the firm operates, and (4th) type of firm’s fiscal
organization. The six accounting indicators are: (a) level of financial debt, (b) long-turn
eligible relationship over the equity, (c) gross margin, (d) ROA (Return on Assets), (e)
ROE (Return on Equity), and (f) economic value added (EVA). MANOVA (Multivariate
Anova) and panel regressions were run to verify if there was any significant influence on
these factors over the variation of financial and economic indicators. Different impacts of
the four explanatory variables over the six dependent variables, with distinct statistical
significances, were found, which highlights how important it is to integrate accounting
sheet analysis with chain theory to evaluate and to plan the finance and economic
performance of Brazilian agribusiness firms.