Digital Currencies Financial Reporting and Auditing - A New Concern for Accounting Professionals in the Accounting Industry

Aug 29, 2026

Uploaded by Jake

Accounting is built on trust, with financial reporting and auditing standards, rules, and regulations guiding accounting professionals for years. Rapid growth in businesses holding digital currencies in their financial statements has raised new concerns globally. This qualitative study examines digital currencies financial reporting and auditing challenges faced by accounting professionals. Findings highlight gaps in universal reporting standards, lack of authoritative auditing guidance, missing regulations, heightened crypto-related crime risk, litigation exposure, and the need for blockchain-aware reporting and audit approaches.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages41

Reading Time1 h 43 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Background: Digital currencies growth and financial statements

Implications for accounting professionals

Abstracted Study Focus

Key concerns and challenges identified

Regulatory and standards development needs

Digital Currencies Financial Reporting and Auditing: A New Concern for Accounting Professionals in the Accounting Industry David Hope Kanu Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) Research Student, Wilmington University, Newcastle, Delaware, USA [doi.org/10.51505/IJEBMR.2025.9123](doi.org/10.51505/IJEBMR.2025.9123) URL: [https://doi.org/10.51505/IJEBMR.2025.9123](https://doi.org/10.51505/IJEBMR.2025.9123) [Received: Jan 07](Received: Jan 07), 2025 Accepted: Jan 16, 2025 Online Published: Jan 30, 2025 Abstract Accounting is a traditional profession of trust, and the financial reporting standards, auditing standards, rules, and regulations guiding accounting professionals' functions in the financial market have been established and have existed for years. Hence, the popularity and increases in businesses holding digital currencies (assets) in their financial statements create concerns for accounting professionals in the accounting industry worldwide. This qualitative study explores digital currencies financial reporting and auditing concerns for accounting professionals in the accounting industry. The study provides insights into the interplay between the accounting profession, standard-setting bodies, digital currencies, and blockchain, offering concerns for financial reporting and audit professionals in the accounting industry. Based on the results of the conducted study, accounting professionals currently face the following concerns and challenges when reporting and auditing organizations holding cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, nonfungible tokens (NFTs), and central bank digital currencies (CBDC in their financial statements, namely the absence of comprehensive and universal financial reporting standards, nonauthoritative auditing standards, the nonexistence of digital currency regulations, heightened digital currencies related crimes, high litigation risks, blockchain technology financial reporting, and auditing. Digital currencies present novelty challenges to accounting professionals that require modifying existing accounting and auditing standards or issuing new ones. Therefore, the study concludes that it is imperative for the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), Security Exchange Commission (SEC) and other global regulators to urgently develop and release comprehensive and uniform global accounting standards, auditing standards and digital currencies regulations to avoid discretionary judgment currently relied upon by accounting professionals in the accounting industry for digital currencies financial reporting and auditing. Keywords: Digital currencies, Digital assets, Cryptocurrencies, Central bank digital currency(CBDC), Non-Fungible Token (NFT), Stablecoins, Financial reporting, Auditing, Accounting professionals, Accounting standards, Auditing standards. 1. Introduction The fourth Industrial Revolution, courtesy of 21st-century digital innovation, has seen the emergence and boom of digital currency in the global financial systems ( Bas et al., 2024) . The market for digital currency is growing precipitously, with digital assets and payment systems such as cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, nonfungible tokens (NFTs), central bank digital currency (CBDC), mobile payments, blockchain technology, and digital trading platforms evolving continually (Bas et al., 2024; Dupuis et al., 2023) . As the popularity of these digital assets increases, whether as a medium of exchange, investment assets, speculative financial instruments, or inventory, it becomes common for business organizations to show in their financial statements significant digital asset balances to reflect the outcome of their digital assets transactions (Vicent et al., 2022; Dupuis et al., 2023) . Amid this paradigm shift in the global financial market, the financia

FAQs

Why has digital currency reporting become a concern for accounting professionals?

Businesses increasingly present digital currency balances in financial statements, while existing financial reporting and auditing guidance was designed before these assets became common, creating new uncertainty and compliance risks.

Which concerns and challenges are highlighted for reporting and auditing digital assets?

The study identifies concerns including the absence of comprehensive universal reporting standards, nonauthoritative auditing standards, lack of digital-asset regulations, heightened related crimes, high litigation risk, and challenges in blockchain-based financial reporting and auditing.

What actions does the study call for from global standard-setters and regulators?

It concludes that bodies such as IASB, FASB, IAASB, AICPA, SEC, and other regulators should urgently develop and issue comprehensive, uniform global accounting and auditing standards and digital currency regulations.

Aug 29, 2026

Uploaded by Jake