Blockchain technology has been a disruptive force in currency, supply chain, and information sharing practices across a variety of industries. Its usage has only recently expanded into assurance and financial reporting. This paper explores blockchain's impact in these areas and provides guidance for organizations and auditors utilizing blockchain by addressing financial data integrity issues, financial reporting risks, and implications for external auditors and firms' corporate governance practices. Organizations utilizing blockchain must adapt their policies and procedures over internal controls and counterparty risk assessment to address increasing regulation over the distribution of financial data, while their audit committees must be prepared to address these challenges leading up to financial statement preparation. External auditors need to assess blockchain implementation as a financial reporting risk and balance the potentially more reliable and timelier audit evidence obtained from blockchain-based reporting systems against the related increase in internal control testing.

The changing dynamics of the accounting profession have been strongly influenced by emerging technologies and the demand for nontraditional metrics and information by stakeholders and regulators. In this article, we perform an exploratory content analysis to examine the role that blockchain technology can play in enhancing sustainability reporting and assurance. The benefits to companies and assurance professionals in using the distributed ledger technology of blockchain are increased trust, transparency, and traceability, which matches stakeholders' demands as it relates to sustainability reporting. This article identifies and analyzes potential and current use cases of blockchain in the United States and Canada to assist accountants and auditors in preparing and reviewing sustainability information. We highlight how augmenting traditional reporting systems with blockchain can overcome problems with sustainability reporting. We discuss implications for practice in detail-finding that blockchain is well-positioned to provide reliable tracking and custodial support as it relates to sustainability information currently being self-reported by many firms, such as greenhouse gas emissions, conflict mineral disclosure, or product provenance, among others. Expanded adoption of blockchains by companies will lead to higher-quality information being included in sustainability reports and allow assurance professionals to verify a wider range of information, potentially leading to uniform standards in the evaluation of sustainability reports.

Blockchain technology has been a disruptive force in currency, supply chain, and information sharing practices across a variety of industries. Its usage has only recently expanded into assurance and financial reporting. This paper explores blockchain's impact in these areas and provides guidance for organizations and auditors utilizing blockchain by addressing financial data integrity issues, financial reporting risks, and implications for external auditors and firms' corporate governance practices. Organizations utilizing blockchain must adapt their policies and procedures over internal controls and counterparty risk assessment to address increasing regulation over the distribution of financial data while their audit committees must be prepared to address these challenges leading up to financial statement preparation. External auditors need to assess blockchain implementation as a financial reporting risk and balance the potentially more reliable and timelier audit evidence obtained from blockchain-based reporting systems against the related increase in internal control testing.

Unhackable. Immutable. Fraud-proof. These terms are frequently used to describe cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology that underpins them. Together, they imply that a high degree of safety accompanies cryptocurrencies and blockchain ledgers. But is this understanding supported by the facts, or is it more based on the promise and theoretical construction of blockchain and cryptocurrencies? To better answer this question, we have compiled and analyzed existing research on initial coin offerings, security offerings, blockchain hacks and thefts, and data breaches of blockchain-based platforms and digital wallets. In contrast to the popular press, we find that in practice, blockchain and cryptocurrencies are more prone to malfeasance, fraud, and manipulation than is commonly understood. The security and trust provided by blockchain as a technology tool are only as secure as the underlying code that establishes the blockchain, and the value derived from cryptocurrencies is only as trustworthy as the entity developing the cryptocurrency. Neither are without their vulnerabilities. Skepticism and proper due diligence should be maintained for any entity looking to utilize blockchain technology or invest in cryptocurrencies.

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