CLASSIFICATION OF INTERESTS AND DIVIDENDS IN THE STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS OF BRAZILIAN COMPANIES

The aim of this paper was to verify the classification of interests and dividends in the Statement of Cash Flow of Brazilian listed companies. We used a sample of 66 companies: 22 that also trade stocks on the New York Stock Exchange, 22 that belong to the New Market of BM&FBOVESPA, and 22 of the Traditional Market of BM&FBOVESPA. In each Statement, we observed how the interest and the dividends were classified. The following results were obtained: i) interest received and dividends paid were classified in the entire sample as belonging to the operating and financing flows, respectively; ii) the classification of dividends received and interest paid was not registered homogeneous, since it was considered only by part of the companies as operating; and iii) there was no significant difference between the criteria for classifying interest and dividends between the three different markets analyzed.