From the above, we can infer that the evidence leads to not rejecting the hypothesis that
the introduction of the new Brazilian accounting standards affected the expression of Debt
ratio from a set of Brazilian companies. An identical inference appears in Ribeiro et al (2012),
Carvalho et al (2011) and Silva et al (2009). In contrast, our findings differ from the study by
Barbosa Neto, Dias and Pinheiro (2009).