Chapter 2 Blockchain: implications for accounting and audit practice
Sunita S. Ahlawat, Abhishek Kumar Tripathi · 2021
With the advent of blockchain technology (BT), the global business is undergoing a major transformation. This technology originated primarily to support Bitcoin cryptocurrency as a way of providing support for conducting reliable transactions with instantaneous verification. The immutable and supposedly tamper-proof nature of the records, which are the byproducts of blockchain, provide trust between the parties involved in a transaction. Using BT, individuals are able to virtually do business, enter contracts and exchange goods and services with authentication. In addition, this technology establishes a permanent audit trail. In this chapter, we discuss business applications of BT in terms of recording, valuing and verifying transactions. We also explore the ramifications of blockchain for the audit of corporate financial reports and associated accounting challenges, especially those involving cryptocurrencies.