Brazil has been in the news lately, and not for the reasons it would like. Brazil recently suffered a failure of its electrical system that impacted large portions of the country, and highlighted the strain of growth that has been placed on the country's infrastructure.

Brazil has been at the forefront of economic development in Latin America. Cities like Sao Paulo and Rio have been traditional choices for Shared Services but other cities like Campinas and Curitiba are also experiencing growth as more multinationals move into those cities. The overall effect, along with the demand for electricity from Brazil's population, has put the spotlight on the country's infrastructure. Other sources of blame for the failure include government regulation, forced rate cuts and inadequate investment in transmission capabilities.

An article from Businessweek highlights the problems. Here's an excerpt:

Power was knocked out in 11 Brazilian states last night, leaving residents in the dark for several hours as the country’s latest blackout raises questions about the reliability of the electricity grid.

Power failures can occur in any country. Just ask India. But as multinationals evaluate various locations around the globe for potential shared service center sites, it's good to keep in mind which countries can keep the lights on.

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-10-26/brazil-suffers-fifth-power-outage-since-crackdown-on-utilities

Brazil has been the biggest success story in Latin America. It has an increasing large role in both Latin America and across the globe. An article at the IFRS Foundation website discusses Brazil's move to full integration of International Financial Reporting Standards with a target of December 2010.

An excerpt from the article:

Brazil has a broad-based economy and a highly developed financial sector” says Alexandre Tombini, Deputy Governor for Financial System Regulation and Organization at the Central Bank of Brazil.”With the increasing global economic and financial integration of our country, it has become clear for us at the Central Bank of Brazil that convergence with internationally accepted accounting standards is of utmost importance. Our belief is that high-quality standards are one of the key ingredients of efficient allocation and use of scarce economic resources and comparable financial information plays a key role in the financial decision-making process of investors”.
“High-quality corporate reporting is essential for attracting and protecting investors not only because of comparability but also due to its close relationship with good governance, accountability and responsibility, enhancing investors’ confidence in the information prepared in such an environment”, says Tombini. “Corporates should, in theory, benefit when they provide comprehensive, relevant and timely information on their financial conditions, performance, and risk management practices. Such businesses should be able to access capital markets more efficiently than similar companies that do not provide information in the same level and thus reducing the cost of capital, and as already said, making the allocation of economic resources more efficient”, he says.
The gradual convergence of Brazilian GAAP with IFRS was set in train in 2006 for financial intermediaries under the supervision of the Central Bank and in 2008 for public companies with a deadline of 2010 for full convergence. In January this year a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the relevant Brazilian accounting bodies and the IASB which confirmed the end of 2010 as the target date for full convergence and established a framework for future cooperation between the accounting bodies and the IASB.

You can read the full article here.