Distributed Ledgers and Secure Multiparty Computation for Financial Reporting and Auditing

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Cao, Sean Shun; Cong, Lin William; Yang, Baozhong
• 署名单位: University System of Maryland; University of Maryland College Park; Cornell University; National Bureau of Economic Research; University System of Georgia; Georgia State University
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2023.02577
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: accounting; FinTech; Misreporting; monitoring; permissioned blockchains; privacy preservation; interoperability; technology adoption

摘要

To understand the disruption and implications of distributed ledger technologies for financial reporting and auditing, we analyze firm misreporting, auditor monitoring and competition, and regulatory policy in a unified model. A federated blockchain for financial reporting and auditing can improve verification efficiency not only for transactions in private databases but also for cross-chain verifications through privacypreserving computation protocols. Despite the potential benefit of blockchains, private incentives for firms and first-mover advantages for auditors can create inefficient underadoption or partial adoption that favors larger auditors. Although a regulator can help coordinate the adoption of technology, endogenous choice of transaction partners by firms can still lead to adoption failure. Our model also provides an initial framework for further studies of the costs and implications of the use of distributed ledgers and secure multiparty computation in financial reporting, including the positive spillover to discretionary auditing and who should bear the cost of adoption.