Readability of the explanatory notes to the public financial statements of the states of Northeast Region and socio-economic and financial variables based on regression with panel data

Objective: Analysis of the influence of previously selected social, economic and financial variables on the quality of disclosure of explanatory notes by the governments of the Northeastern states in the period between 2012 and 2021 based on the elaboration of the Flesch Index. Methodology: Uses the Flesch index, which estimates the degree of readability of texts, applied to the explanatory notes of the public financial statements of the nine northeastern states from 2012 to 2021 and a multiple linear regression test with panel data, with the calculated Flesch index as the dependent variable and the Human Development Index (HDI) as independent variables, Public Debt (PE), Liquidity, Index of Development of Basic Education (IDEB) and Value of the Approved Budget (VOA). Results: Considering the period analyzed (2012 to 2021), the model revealed consistency only in relation to the period from 2017 to 2021, but without any of the proposed variables having a significant impact on the independent variable. The best readability indices were obtained in the states of Pernambuco (72.4%) and Paraíba (66.7%) and the least favorable indices in the states of Maranhão (45.3%) and Piauí (42.7%). Contributions of the Study: The research by testing socio-economic and financial variables and attempts to link them to the dissemination of explanatory notes in the public sector. Although the results were not positive, the lack of correlation among the variables analyzed suggests that others could be validated in future work. This study contributes to the analysis of social, economic and financial variables and their relationship to the elaboration of explanatory notes.