THE FISCAL EDUCATION PROGRAM OF THE BRAZILIAN STATE OF SANTA CATARINA: A REFLECTION ON THE ACCOUNTANT'S ROLE

Abstract

This article presents the Fiscal Education Program of the Santa Catarina (SC) State, Brazil, instituted by the joined Act SEF/SED no 015/2000, reflecting on the public reached by the program and on the importance of accounting professionals in this context. One of the attempts of increasing the tax collection through the citizen awareness, implanted by the Government of the SC State, was the Fiscal Education Program that reached educators and pupils of the basic education, but did not include accounting professionals. Within this context, while trying to understand these relationships, a field research was executed through interviews with two groups: the first includes the accounting professionals that act in the municipality of Maravilha/SC; and the second, state and municipal professionals, specifically technicians of State Secretariat of Finance of the municipalities of Chapecó and São Miguel do Oeste, as well as Maravilha (SC), employees of the Secretariat of Education and Innovation of Santa Catarina in the municipality of Florianópolis, and employees of the Municipality of Maravilha (SC). The results demonstrate that the accountant plays an important social role, and becomes a propagating agent and collaborator of the Program of Tax Awareness. It has been concluded that the State needs to take into consideration the importance of accounting professionals and to recognize the value of their social function. Keywords: Fiscal Education Program. Accounting professional. Citizen awareness.