Blockchain and auditing

Abstract

This study provides a review of the blockchain literature, with a special focus on the audit blockchain literature. It identifies what blockchain is about and what research already has been done in the field of audit and blockchain. There is a lot of research about the potential and importance of blockchain, but there is little research about the concrete applications and about whether blockchain is already implemented in the auditing branch. Besides some proponents there are also some critics on the blockchain technology. This raises the question what is the added value of blockchain? This study digs further into that question and looks at whether blockchain stays with rhetoric or whether experts really see potential in blockchain. This has been studied by conducting seven semi-structured questionnaires with blockchain experts and accountants. From the interviews, it can be concluded that there are different opinions about the added value of blockchain technology in auditing. Some respondents think it blockchain has or will add value, whereas other do not agree on that. The respondents agree on the fact that blockchain technology have not been used on big scale yet in auditing. These results have provided insight into the current state of blockchain in auditing.