This study aimed to verify whether a Discriminant Rule for evaluating companies can be elaborated on the basis of data and information contained in the publication "Melhores & Maiores" from Exame Magazine, taking into consideration that management needs and looks for easily accessible information that allows for projections, thus contributing to the decision-making and control process. The study was based on the sample of the largest Retailers, Wholesalers and Foreign Trade Companies, ranked by sales. Discriminant Analysis was used, which is one multivariate statistical analysis technique widely used in companies to forecast bankruptcies, calculate insolvency indicators and make credit evaluation. The SPSS - Statistical Package for Social Sciences - software, version 10.0, was used as a support. The conclusion was that, from all indexes made available by Exame which could be considered in the analysis, General Indebtedness and Sales better explained these companies' performance in the year 2000.
Decision making process; Management Accounting; Performance; Discriminant Analysis
