Potentials of blockchain technology application in accounting and financial reporting

Authors

  • Tijana Matejić University of Belgrade, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Belgrade, Serbia
  • Snežana Knežević University of Belgrade, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Belgrade, Serbia
  • Aleksandar Joksimović University of Belgrade, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Belgrade, Serbia
  • Stefan Milojević Educons University, Faculty of Business Economics, Sremska Kamenica, Serbia
  • Miljan Adamović Educons University, Faculty of Business Economics, Sremska Kamenica, Serbia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.71159/bizinfo250010M

Keywords:

blockchain technology, accounting, financial reporting, efficiency

Abstract

Blockchain technology has caused a significant boom in academic and professional circles, becoming a central topic of discussion in the fields of business process modernisation, transparency, privacy, and data security. In the accounting field, this technology can bring revolutionary changes through the automation of record-keeping, the immutability of financial records, and the transparent exchange of data among all participants, thereby enhancing trust and efficiency in accounting practices. However, it also introduces challenges related to reduced employment opportunities in this profession and new skill requirements that the profession must adapt to. This paper discusses the characteristics of blockchain technology, its potential aspects and domains of application in accounting activities and financial reporting, the benefits and limitations of its implementation, and the changes it may bring to accounting practices and overall business operations. Additionally, the paper presents a conceptual system for the implementation of financial reporting and the automation of accounting activities through the application of smart contracts.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Andersen, N. (2016). Blockchain Technology: A game-changer in accounting. Deloitte, March.

Bellucci, M., Cesa Bianchi, D., & Manetti, G. (2022). Blockchain in accounting practice and research: systematic literature review. Meditari Accountancy Research, 30(7), 121-146. https://doi.org/10.1108/MEDAR-10-2021-1477

Bonsón, E., & Bednárová, M. (2019). Blockchain and its implications for accounting and auditing. Meditari Accountancy Research, 27(5), 725-740. https://doi.org/10.1108/MEDAR-11-2018-0406

Cai, C. W. (2021). Triple-entry accounting with blockchain: How far have we come? Accounting and Finance, 61(1), 71–93. https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.12556

Centobelli, P., Cerchione, R., Del Vecchio, P., Oropallo, E., & Secundo, G. (2022). Blockchain technology design in accounting: Game changer to tackle fraud or technological fairy tale?. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 35(7), 1566-1597. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-10-2020-4994

Christidis, K., Devetsikiotis, M. (2016). Blockchains and smart contracts for the internet of things. IEEE Access, 4, 2292-2303 https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2016.2566339

Dai, J., & Vasarhelyi, M. A. (2017). Toward blockchain-based accounting and assurance. Journal of information systems, 31(3), 5-21. https://doi.org/10.2308/isys-51804

Damvakeraki, T. (2023) EU Blockchain strategy. EUBlockchain. https://eufordigital.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Tonia-Damvakeraki-Overview-of-the-EU-blockchain-strategy.pdf

Dasaklis, T. K., Voutsinas, T. G., & Mihiotis, A. (2021, November). Integrating blockchain with Enterprise Resource Planning systems: benefits and challenges. In Proceedings of the 25th Pan-Hellenic Conference on Informatics (pp. 265-270). https://doi.org/10.1145/3503823.3503873

Dashkevich, N., Counsell, S., & Destefanis, G. (2024). Blockchain financial statements: Innovating financial reporting, accounting, and liquidity management. Future Internet, 16(7), 244. https://doi.org/10.3390/fi16070244

Duong, T., Chepurnoy, A., Fan, L., & Zhou, H. S. (2018, May). Twinscoin: A cryptocurrency via proof-of-work and proof-of-stake. In Proceedings of the 2nd ACM Workshop on Blockchains, Cryptocurrencies, and Contracts (pp. 1-13). https://doi.org/10.1145/3205230.3205233

Dyball, M. C., & Seethamraju, R. (2022). Client use of blockchain technology: exploring its (potential) impact on financial statement audits of Australian accounting firms. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 35(7), 1656-1684. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-07-2020-4681

Faccia, A., & Petratos, P. (2021). Blockchain, enterprise resource planning (ERP) and accounting information systems (AIS): Research on e-procurement and system integration. Applied Sciences, 11(15), 6792. https://doi.org/10.3390/app11156792

Fox G. (2001). Peer-to-peer networks. Computing in Science & Engineering, 3(3), 75–77. https://doi.org/10.1109/5992.919270

Haber, S., & Stornetta, W. S. (1991). How to time-stamp a digital document (pp. 437-455). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-38424-3_32

Handayanto, A. B., Pontoh, G. T., & Ferdiansah, M. I. (2024, May). The Future of Accounting: Triple-Entry Accounting Enabled by Blockchain. In 8th International Conference on Accounting, Management, and Economics (ICAME 2023) (pp. 628-667). Atlantis Press. https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-400-6_47

Ibañez, J. I., Bayer, C. N., Tasca, P., & Xu, J. (2021). Triple-entry accounting, blockchain and next of kin: Towards a standardization of ledger terminology. arXiv preprint arXiv:2101.02632. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2101.02632

Karajović, M., Kim, H. M., & Laskowski, M. (2019). Thinking outside the block: Projected phases of blockchain integration in the accounting industry. Australian Accounting Review, 29(2), 319-330. https://doi.org/10.1111/auar.12280

Kayikci, S., & Khoshgoftaar, T. M. (2024). Blockchain meets machine learning: a survey. Journal of Big Data, 11(9). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40537-023-00852-y

Kitsantas, T., Vazakidis, A., & Chytis, E. (2019, July). A review of blockchain technology and its applications in the business environment. In International conference on enterprise, systems, accounting, logistics & management.

Knežević, S., Stanković, A., & Tepavac, R. (2012). Accounting Information System as a Platform for Business and Financial Decision-Making in the Company. Management, 17(65), 63-69.

Linh, N. T. M., & Phuong, T. B. (2020, July). Mandatory of E-invoice: adaption process of Vietnam. In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Management of e-Commerce and e-Government (pp. 115-118). https://doi.org/10.1145/3409891.3409899

Liu, H., Yang, B., Xiong, X., Zhu, S., Chen, B., Tolba, A., & Zhang, X. (2023). A financial management platform based on the integration of blockchain and supply chain. Sensors, 23(3), 1497. https://doi.org/10.3390/s23031497

Liu, M., Robin, A., Wu, K., & Xu, J. (2021). Blockchain‘s Impact on Accounting and Auditing: A Use Case on Supply Chain Traceability. Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting, 19(2), 105–119. https://doi.org/10.2308/JETA-2021-002

Mekić, E., Purković, S., & Lekpek, A. (2018). Cost benefit analysis of compromising ledger system based on blockchain technology. BizInfo, 9(2), 27-38. https://doi.org/10.5937/bizinfo1802027M

Mingming, T. (2020, July). Research on the application of blockchain technology in accounting information system. In 2020 International Conference on Virtual Reality and Intelligent Systems (ICVRIS) (pp. 330-334). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICVRIS51417.2020.00084

Mitrović, A., Milašinović, M. (2019). Financial report as sources of financial information for the purposes of financial report analyse. Scientific Conference Accounting and audit in theory and practice. Banja Luka College. Banja Luka, 2019. May 29, 2019, 9-21.

Mori, T. (2016). Financial technology: Blockchain and securities settlement. Journal of Securities Operations & Custody, 8(3), 208-227.

Ostojić, B., Jovanović, D., Brkljač, M., & Balaban, S. (2024). Promotional activities and implementation of blockchain technology in wine production in the Republic of Serbia. BizInfo Blace, 15(2), 107-113. https://doi.org/10.5937/bizinfo2402107O

Papathanasiou, A., Cole, R., & Murray, P. (2020). The (non-) application of blockchain technology in the Greek shipping industry. European Management Journal, 38(6), 927-938. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2020.04.007

Pflueger, D., Kornberger, M., & Mouritsen, J. (2024). What is blockchain accounting? A critical examination in relation to organizing, governance, and trust. European Accounting Review, 33(4), 1139-1164. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638180.2022.2147973

Rozario, A. M., & Thomas, C. (2019). Reengineering the audit with blockchain and smart contracts. Journal of emerging technologies in accounting, 16(1), 21-35. https://doi.org/10.2308/jeta-52432

Rozario, A. M., & Vasarhelyi, M. A. (2018). Auditing with Smart Contracts. International Journal of Digital Accounting Research, 18. https://doi.org/10.4192/1577-8517-v18_1

Rückeshäuser, N. (2017). Do we really want blockchain-based accounting? Decentralized consensus as enabler of management override of internal controls.

Schmitz, J., & Leoni, G. (2019). Accounting and Auditing at the Time of Blockchain Technology: A Research Agenda. Australian Accounting Review, 29(2), 331–342. https://doi.org/10.1111/auar.12286

Sheth, H., & Dattani, J. (2019). Overview of blockchain technology. Asian Journal for Convergence in Technology (AJCT) ISSN-2350-1146.

Singh, S., Hosen, A. S., & Yoon, B. (2021). Blockchain security attacks, challenges, and solutions for the future distributed iot network. Ieee Access, 9, 13938-13959. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3051602

Sinha, S. (2020). Blockchain—Opportunities and challenges for accounting professionals. Journal of Corporate Accounting & Finance, 31(2), 65-67. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcaf.22430

Srebro B, Mavrenski B, Bogojević Arsić V, Knežević S, Milašinović M, Travica J. Bankruptcy Risk Prediction in Ensuring the Sustainable Operation of Agriculture Companies. Sustainability. 13(14), 7712. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13147712

Tapscott, D., & Tapscott, A. (2016). The impact of the blockchain goes beyond financial services. Harvard business review, 10(7), 2-5.

Vujičić, D., Jagodić, D., & Ranđić, S. (2018, March). Blockchain technology, bitcoin, and Ethereum: A brief overview. In 2018 17th international symposium infoteh-jahorina (infoteh) (pp. 1-6). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/INFOTEH.2018.8345547

Weigand, H., Blums, I., & de Kruijff, J. (2020). Shared ledger accounting—implementing the economic exchange pattern. Information Systems, 90, 101437. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.is.2019.101437

Wu, J., Xiong, F., & Li, C. (2019). Application of internet of things and blockchain technologies to improve accounting information quality. IEEE Access, 7, 100090– 100098. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2930637

Yu, T., Lin, Z., & Tang, Q. (2018). Blockchain: The introduction and its application in financial accounting. Journal of Corporate Accounting & Finance, 29(4), 37-47. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcaf.22365

Zhang, W., & Zhu, M. (2022). Environmental Accounting System Model Based on Artificial Intelligence Blockchain and Embedded Sensors. Computational Intelligence and Neuroscience, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/3803566

Downloads

Published

2025-04-01

How to Cite

Matejić, T., Knežević, S., Joksimović, A. ., Milojević, S. ., & Adamović, M. . (2025). Potentials of blockchain technology application in accounting and financial reporting. BizInfo Blace, 16(1), 87-95. https://doi.org/10.71159/bizinfo250010M

Similar Articles

11-20 of 89

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.

Most read articles by the same author(s)