GRADUATE RESEARCH DISSERTATIONS
CHAIR: VELINA POPOVA, PH.D. | SECOND: MARK SHELDON, PH.D. | READER: ANDREW TROTMAN, PH.D.
AN EXAMINATION OF ASSURANCE SERVICES CURRENTLY (NOT) PROVIDED BY BLOCKCHAIN AUDITORS
BUSINESS IMPACT
SCHOLARLY ABSTRACT
Historically, financial reporting and audit procedures have depended on centralized systems, characterized by pa - per-based records, intermediaries, and a high risk of hu - man error (Han et al. 2023). However, the emergence of blockchain has introduced a distributed, transparent, and immutable ledger system that could fundamentally change how financial data is recorded, stored, published, and au - dited (Tapscott and Euchner, 2019). This study seeks to empirically examine the current state of the blockchain assurance market from the perspective of auditors and ad - visors. Specifically, this dissertation seeks to address what assurance services auditors are currently (not) providing on blockchain ecosystems and why. How do auditors nav - igate and respond to the challenges associated with block - chain assurance? What are the primary auditing needs of blockchain clients, and how do these needs influence their choice of auditing services? This study applies a qualitative approach and uses semi-structured interviews with expe - rienced blockchain auditors and advisors. The results indi - cate that auditors play a critical role in enhancing the se - curity, functionality, and scalability of blockchain systems. There is a growing need for auditors to expand beyond traditional financial controls and incorporate expertise in economics and cryptographic mechanisms into their audit methodologies. Advisors in blockchain ecosystems play a distinct role compared to auditors, focusing on strategic decision-making, business viability, and long-term opera - tional efficiency rather than compliance and security risk mitigation. They are strategic partners who assess techni - cal feasibility and drive organizational transformation eth - ical accountability, and sustainable blockchain integration dimensions largely outside the scope of traditional audit - ing practices.
CFOs and CIOs should design governance so that auditors focus on independence, controls, and data integrity, while advisors focus on design choices, business models, and long‑term viability. Blurring the roles risks both conflicts of interest and gaps in oversight. Advisors and auditors play distinct but complementary roles: assurance vs strategic/ technical integration. Auditors need new capabilities in cryptography, economics, and protocol mechanics. Firms investing in blockchain (or Web3) should insist on audit teams with cross‑functional expertise—combin - ing traditional accounting with security engineering and crypto‑economics—to avoid a false sense of assurance over technically complex systems. Current audit practice does not fully cover key blockchain assurance needs. Audit firms and internal audit functions should explicitly inventory which blockchain-related risks they do and do not cover (e.g., smart contract logic, consensus design, to - ken economics). This gap analysis can inform new assur - ance offerings and help clients decide whether and how to adopt blockchain solutions.
FRANCIS OWUOR, PH.D.
Keywords: Blockchain technology, audit quality, technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework.
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