The Law of fiscal responsibility impact on financial administration: financial freedom of very small municipalities of the Paraná state

This article is aimed at evaluating the impact of the Law of Fiscal Responsibility (LRF) on financial freedom of municipal governments. The study focuses on small municipalities of the Paraná State with less than 5 thousand inhabitants and considers the local government peculiarities and duties. The theoretical framework includes the organization of the Brazilian public sector, LRF, managerial public administration, municipal administration and municipal financial administration. The research work is descriptive and explanatory as to objectives, bibliographical and documental in respect to procedures, and quantitative in relation to approach. The analysis includes all the Paraná State municipalities with less than 5 thousand inhabitants that made available financial information through the Finances of Brazil Database at the General Office of National Treasury (FINBRA). The employed statistical technique is the multiple linear regression analysis. A total of 22 explanatory variables relating to financial aspects and administration style of municipal governments are considered. The main conclusion is that managerial freedom of financial administration of municipal governments has been significantly modified by LRF providing that such freedom became much more dependent upon savings of current receipts.