The Doors Are Opening for the New Pedigree: A Futuristic View for the Effects of Blockchain Technology on Accounting Applications

Abstract

Developments in communication technologies have enabled entities to benefit from new technological infrastructures with improved efficiency. In this context, blockchain, as a new, innovative communication technology, can provide a better solution that promises efficiency and improved transparency for every kind of transaction that involves value exchange including stocks, derivatives, interbank transactions, and accounting operations of entities. Today, whenever a value exchange transaction is needed between individuals or institutions, a regulatory and intermediary body is needed in order to ensure trustworthiness and transparency. Supporters of a blockchain called the “internet of values” argue that it sustains a more reliable infrastructure without any intermediary, unlike traditional systems that include regulators and intermediaries. Blockchains established by private institutions for intercompany operations give the decision-making authority of record approvals and monitoring ledgers to the system’s managers. Especially companies or institutions can benefit from these private blockchains without a need for a trust mechanism such as intermediaries. This chapter aims to exhibit the current accounting operation areas that blockchain technology impacts, s as well as the future direction of the integration between the technology and accounting.