Rural accounting and exports: the strategic role of tax management in the development of brazilian agribusiness and its international relevance

Abstract

Rural accounting is established as a strategic and indispensable pillar for Brazilian agribusiness, a sector that, in 2024, consolidated its expressive participation of approximately 24.8% in the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to robust data from the Center for Advanced Studies on Applied Economics (CEPEA). In the international scenario, effective fiscal and accounting management by agricultural producers is not merely a competitive differential, but a sine qua non condition for integration, permanence, and expansion into global export chains, especially the more demanding ones. This article aims to investigate and profoundly discuss the transformative impact of accounting management in agribusiness, with a specific analytical focus on the vital and complex coffee production chain, demonstrating how the expertise developed in Brazil in this field can act as a significant driver for strengthening economies on a global scale, including the American one. The persistent fiscal challenges that still affect many Brazilian rural producers, often resulting from informality, will be meticulously addressed, as well as how formalization, allied with the judicious application of accounting and fiscal regulations – such as the possibility of excluding 20% of gross revenue in the calculation of Income Tax, as provided for in Normative Instruction RFB No. 1,500/2014 – transform into essential instruments of economic viability and growth. The study will demonstrate, based on research published by Embrapa, that professional accounting support has the potential to increase producers' annual profit margin by up to 30%. Furthermore, we will explore the imperative need for fiscal and accounting compliance for coffee exports, one of Brazil's most valued and demanded agricultural products in the international market, and the crucial role of government incentive programs (such as PRONAF, the Rural Insurance Premium Subsidy Program (PSR), and BNDES credit lines) in strengthening rural production, whose access is invariably conditioned on accounting regularity.