This paper aims to debate the current challenges Brazilian accountants face when trying to disclose, through the financial statements, what is really happening in their companies. Furthermore, a proposal is presented that aims to improve the informational capacity of accounting in terms of quality. A world where accounting information does not inspire confidence and credibility is rather unthinkable. Meanwhile, the growing complexity of business activities and some tax restrictions makes us face criticism grounded in the urgent need for improvements in accounting information. At the same time, we must deal with extreme difficulties for making substantial changes in current Accounting regulations. With a view to a rapid improvement in accounting information, we propose that companies voluntarily present a new statement called "Effective Stockholder Equity Statement". It starts from corporate law values and adjusts assets and liabilities to present the value of stockholder's equity in a more realistic way. The cost-benefit relation of this new statement is analyzed, leading to the conclusion that it can bring about an important evolution, improving the product presented by Brazilian accounting at a reduced cost. Its application may be a differential factor for companies that disclose financial statements to external users, and can also be highly useful to expand the information capacity of all internal users.
Effective Stockholder Equity; Financial Accounting; Accounting Information