The Blockchain Impact on the Current Auditing Standards

AUTHOR

Dr. Ahmed Eltweri

Assistant professor in Accounting- Liverpool John Moores University

ABSTRACT

It is obvious nowadays, that blockchain is spreading rapidly in a multidisciplinary field and the auditing profession is not excluded. As a result, the blockchain has been described as a new era of technology due to its advancement in handling various activities more efficiently along with the disruption that it causes to the markets and business as a whole. However, more specific, transparency, traceability and decentralization serve the auditing profession owing to this technological advancement. This new tech comes as continuous calls for rigours and efficient regulation that govern the auditing profession by many stakeholders.

In addition, the practices and procedures performed in organisations have changed by the digital revolution, this is not limited to organisations but also involved professionals, academics, regulators, practitioners and standard-setters (EY, 2017; and Troshani et al., 2019). Therefore, a number of questions are under scrutinising including how the audit profession can benefit from the blockchain integration into the audit process? What is the effect on SME and large accounting companies due to the blockchain integration on their performance?

 

KEYWORDS

Blockchain Technology, Transparency, Accounting and Auditing Standards, Auditing profession

REFERENCES

BALIOS, D., 2021. The impact of Big Data on accounting and auditing. International Journal of Corporate Finance and Accounting (IJCFA)8 (1), pp.1-14.

ELTWERI, A. 2020. Fintech in Africa. Available at www.alexpander.it

ELTWERI, A. 2020. Social and Environmental Responsibility Effect on a Company’s Financial Performance. Available at www.alexpander.it

ELTWERI, A. 2020. The cultural aspects of accounting development in the MENA Region. Available at www.alexpander.it

ELTWERI, A. 2020. The forthcoming chapter of accountancy using Blockchain. Available at www.alexpander.it

ELTWERI, A. 2021. The Artificial Intelligence Ethical Implications in Auditing Public Sector. Available at www.alexpander.it

ELTWERI, A. 2021. The Corporate Governance Effects on the Audit Committees Performance. Available at www.alexpander.it

ELTWERI, A. and CAVALIERE, M.L.P.L. 2020a. Impact of E-Accounting Practices upon the Performance of Business. PROCEEDINGS E-BOOK, 240.

ELTWERI, A. and CAVALIERE, M.L.P.L. 2020b. Lessons in Corporate Governance to Learn From More Developed Countries. PROCEEDINGS E-BOOK, 57.

ELTWERI, A., ALTARAWNAH, M., AL-HAJAYA K., & AL-KARAKI, W. 2018. Auditing profession regulation: Lesson learned from code and common law countries regulatory approaches. Risk Governance and Control: Financial Markets & Institutions, 8(3), 80-101. 

ELTWERI, A., FACCIA, A. and CAVALIERE, L.P.L., 2020. The role of culture on the adoption of International Standards on Auditing in the developing countries: An institutional perspective. Journal of Governance and Regulation, Vol. 9 No. 4. pp162-171

ELTWERI, A., FACCIA, A., ROXANA MOŞTEANU, N., SAWAN, N. and PIO LEONARDO CAVALIERE, L. 2020. The Role of Risk Management in Auditing E-Business. 2020 The 4th International Conference on Software and e-Business of Conference.

ELTWERI, A., SAWAN, N. and TAHAR, A.R. 2018. The Harmonising of Auditing Standards in Emerging Economies from The Stakeholders’ Perspectives. Corporate Ownership and Control, 15, 201-212.

EY (2017), “How blockchain will revolutionize finance and auditing”, available at: https:// betterworkingworld.ey.com/digital/blockchain-why-finance-and-auditing-willnever-be-the-same (accessed 02 June 2021).

FACCIA, A. and MOSTEANU, N.R., 2019. Accounting and blockchain technology: from double-entry to triple-entry. The Business & Management Review10(2), pp.108-116.

FACCIA, A. and MOSTEANU, N.R., 2019. Tax evasion information system and blockchain. Journal of Information Systems & Operations Management13(1).

FACCIA, A., 2019, August. Data and Information Flows: Assessing Threads and Opportunities to Ensure Privacy and Investment Returns. In Proceedings of the 2019 3rd International Conference on Cloud and Big Data Computing (pp. 54-59).

FACCIA, A., Al NAQBI, M.Y.K. and LOOTAH, S.A., 2019, August. Integrated Cloud Financial Accounting Cycle: How Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and XBRL will Change the Accounting, Fiscal and Auditing Practices. In Proceedings of the 2019 3rd International Conference on Cloud and Big Data Computing (pp. 31-37).

FACCIA, A., DE LUCIA, C., ELTWERI, A., SAWAN, N. AND PIO LEONARDO CAVALIERE, L., 2020. Extended Audit Report: Enhancing Trust and Reputation in IT Processes and across E-business Industries. In 2020 2nd International Conference on E-Business and E-commerce Engineering (pp. 23-27).

FACCIA, A., MOSTEANU, N.R., FAHED, M. and CAPITANIO, F., 2019. Accounting Information Systems and ERP in the UAE: An Assessment of the Current and Future Challenges to Handle Big Data. In Proceedings of the 2019 3rd International Conference on Cloud and Big Data Computing (pp. 90-94).

GAUTHIER, M.P. and BRENDER, N., 2021. How do the current auditing standards fit the emergent use of blockchain?. Managerial Auditing Journal, 12, 289-316

KWILINSKI, A., 2019. Implementation of Blockchain Technology in Accounting Sphere. Academy of Accounting and Financial Studies Journal, 23, pp. 1-6.

LOMBARDI, R., DE VILLIERS, C., MOSCARIELLO, N. AND PIZZO, M. 2021. The disruption of blockchain in auditing – a systematic literature review and an agenda for future research, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-10-2020-4992

MAFFEI, M., CASCIELLO, R. and MEUCCI, F., 2021. Blockchain technology: uninvestigated issues emerging from an integrated view within accounting and auditing practices. Journal of Organizational Change Management,

MOŞTEANU N. R. 2019. International Financial Markets face to face with Artificial Intelligence and Digital Era. Theoretical and Applied Economics, 26(3), 123-133.

MOŞTEANU N. R. 2020. Artificial Intelligence and Cyber Security – A Shield against Cyberattack as a Risk Business Management Tool – Case of European Countries. Quality-Access to Success Journal, 21(175), 148-156.

MOŞTEANU N. R. 2020. Finance digitalization and its impact on labour market. Technium Social Sciences Journal, Vol.8/ June 2020, 598-605.

MOŞTEANU N. R. 2020. Green Sustainable Regional Development and Digital Era. In Proceedings of Green Buildings and Renewable Energy, Springer, Ch.13, 181-197.

MOŞTEANU N. R., FACCIA, A. 2020. Digital Systems and New Challenges of Financial Management – FinTech, XBRL, Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies. Quality-Access to Success Journal, 21(174), 159-166.

MOŞTEANU N. R., FACCIA, A., ANSARI A., SHAMOUT, M. D. 2020. Sustainability Integration in Supply Chain Management through Systematic Literature Review. Quality-Access to Success Journal, 21(176), 117-123.

MOŞTEANU N. R., GALEA K. 2020. Artificial Intelligence and Cyber Security – face to face with Cyberattack – a Maltese case of Risk Management approach. Ecoforum Journal, 9(2)

PETRATOS, P., & FACCIA, A. 2019. Accounting Information Systems and System of Systems: Assessing Security with Attack Surface Methodology. In Proceedings of the 2019 3rd International Conference on Cloud and Big Data Computing (pp. 100-105).

SANKA, A.I. and CHEUNG, R.C., 2019. October. Blockchain: Panacea for Corrupt Practices in Developing Countries. In 2019 2nd International Conference of the IEEE Nigeria Computer Chapter (NigeriaComputConf) (pp. 1-7). IEEE.

SAWAN, N., ELTWERI, A., DE LUCIA, C., PIO LEONARDO CAVALIERE, L., FACCIA, A. and ROXANA MOŞTEANU, N. 2020. Mixed and Augmented Reality Applications in the Sport Industry. 2020 2nd International Conference on E-Business and E-commerce Engineering of Conference.

SECINARO, S., CALANDRA, D. and BIANCONE, P. 2021. Blockchain, trust, and trust accounting: can blockchain technology substitute trust created by intermediaries in trust accounting? A theoretical examination, International Journal of Management Practice, Vol. 14 No. 2, p. 129.

TAN, B.S. and LOW, K.Y., 2019. Blockchain as the database engine in the accounting system. Australian Accounting Review, 29(2), pp.312-318.

TROSHANI, I., LOCKE, J. and ROWBOTTOM, N. 2019. Transformation of accounting through digital standardization, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Vol. 32 No. 1, pp. 133-162.

TURKER, I. and BICER, A.A. 2020. How to use blockchain effectively in auditing and assurance services”, Contributions to Management Science, Springer, Cham, pp. 457-471, doi: 10.1007/978- 3-030-29739-8_22.

XU, M., CHEN, X. and KOU, G. 2019. A systematic review of blockchain”, Financial Innovation, Vol. 5 No. 1, p. 27.

ZEMANKOVA, A. 2019. Artificial intelligence and blockchain in audit and accounting: literature review”, WSEAS Transactions on Business and Economics, World Scientific and Engineering Academy and Society, Vol. 16, pp. 568-581