CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND POLITICAL CONNECTIONS IN ANTI-CORRUPTION PRACTICES

ABSTRACT The objective of this study is to analyze whether specific corporate governance mechanisms and political connections influence the voluntary disclosure of anti-corruption practices in the companies listed in the Brazilian stock exchange [B]3. The disclosure index was obtained from the relationship between the number of citations of the keywords and the number of pages in the sustainability reports. The analysis was performed using multiple linear regression, considering 740 observations from financial years 2016 and 2017. The results indicate that the size and percentage of external members on the board of directors, Big Four audits, size of the audit committee, and participation of government shareholding positively influence the levels of disclosure of anti-corruption practices. In turn, the presence of politicians on the board of directors leads to an increase in information asymmetry due to a lower level of disclosure, which, by extension, represents less commitment to anti-corruption practices.