The credibility of finance committees and information usage : trustworthy to whom?

Analysing municipal councils in Brazil, this article contributes to the understanding of how politicians use accounting information in terms of the dynamics of collective political decisions. Depending on their political position, the authors investigated whether councillors seek accounting information to cope with varied objectives rather than a unified decision-making process. A survey of local finance committee members showed that information source credibility is a sensitive construct with multiple meanings influenced by the political environment. This article adds to prior literature on the demand and supply sides of information