Blockchain in Auditing: Important Use Cases

The traditional accounting is a labor-intensive work which brings upon huge human resource cost along with lower efficiency. The ecosystem also involves a lot of order audits, delivery notes, invoicing and payment records. Generally, third parties maintain the verification of these documents. Blockchain in auditing could revolutionize the way this archaic system works.

To understand where blockchain could fit in auditing processes, let us establish a standardized audit timeline.

The organization’s management prepares the financial report. They prepare it in accordance with legal requirements and financial reporting standards.
The organization’s board approves the financial report.
Auditors start their examination by gaining an understanding of the organization’s activities and considering the economic and industry issues that might have affected the business during the reporting period.
For each major activity listed in the financial report, auditors identify and assess any risks which could have a significant impact on the financial position or financial performance, and also some of the measures (called internal controls) that the organization has put in place to mitigate those risks.
Based on the risks and controls identified, auditors consider what management has done to ensure the financial report is accurate, and examine supporting evidence.
Auditors then make a judgement as to whether the financial report taken as a whole presents a true and fair view of the financial results and position of the organization and its cash flows, and is in compliance with financial reporting standards and, if applicable, the Corporations Act.
Finally, auditors prepare an audit report setting out their opinion for the organization’s shareholders or members.

Suggested: Key Concepts of Blockchain

Where does blockchain fit in?

Maintaining transparency in audits.

One of the most appealing aspects of blockchain technology is the degree of transparency that it can provide. The technology can allow for the immutable tracking of anything across the audit process. The use of data visualization will allow auditors to not only provide assurance over the systems, but it will also allow consulting firms to assist with planning and decision making. Following are some of the key points for usage of blockchain in audit transparency:

The entire audit process will be moved to blockchain technology. In a nutshell, this will provide two benefits:
- Many organizations hire multiple audit teams. There is a need for a corruption-free ecosystem for synchronization between audit reports between the auditing teams. When we use blockchain for auditing process, auditors will be aware of the audit process done by another audit team. This will increase the genuineness of the system.
- The organization will be aware of the audit process, thereby tracking the audit process lucidly.
The audit reports will be put on the blockchain. The next auditors can verify if the audit is performed in a right manner.
The financial reports of the organization can be put on the blockchain. This will ensure that the reports are immutable and cannot be denied by the organization later.

Removing dependency of the enterprise in auditing.

An audit is often a heavy process. It requires professionals to spend a significant amount of time to review a large number of transactions in the clients’ books.

As blockchain has its foundation in the distributed ledger concept and cryptology. It promises transparency, immutability, security, auditability, high cost-efficiency and is ever available. Blockchain technology has an immediate application in the external confirmation procedures of audit verification.

External Confirmations

External confirmations are a critical part of all audit processes. They give the audit team the ability to check external sources of the information provided internally by the company. But what if the ledger of such an enterprise is in a decentralized ledger?

In a scenario like that, the auditors would be able to obtain all the information related to the financial transactions of a company without the need to confirm them through an external confirmation procedure, hence saving time and resources.

An environment where all the ledgers would be easily accessible, cross-checks of transactions would be still possible. So, if company A has a liability with company B, by cross-checking the respective public ledgers the auditors or stakeholders can automatically verify whether the transactions are correctly recorded.

Conclusion

Apart from the stated benefits, ready-to-access information will also facilitate the review of bank details, where the external auditors could examine all the information pertaining to a company and commercial banks, including bank accounts, loans, guarantees, and signatory powers. Blockchain can remodel the conventional techniques for invoicing, paperwork and contracts as it provides a canonical source of truth. To understand how blockchain can help your financial services firm, drop your email here.