In my last entry, I discussed the Web-based discussion resource known as Reddit. I relatively recently added Reddit to my list of places I regularly go to track discussions on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, as well as a number of other topics of personal interest. (Because of the many topics of personal interest, and my laziness, I do not have a separate business and personal identity, and attempt to stay as anonymous as possible. Those who know me would easily piece together my identity.)

Online discussion areas have been part of the technology world before the Internet and the traditional online services (America Online, Compuserve, Prodigy, etc.). Usenet, for example, had a place of prominence from 1980 to 2010. Of Usenet, they said, “The entire realm of human knowledge is shared on Usenet every four days.” They also said, “The average person uses less than 10% of their brain, and Usenet proves it is probably lower than that.”

While blockchain is still a mystery to many people, Big 4 surveys indicate that blockchain is critical and amongst the top-five strategic priorities for the majority of larger businesses surveyed, and that more than three-quarters of those responding to such executive surveys are actively involved in blockchain themselves. Individually, professional bodies associated with the business reporting supply chain are delivering their own guidance and thought-leadership materials (1). 

The Canadian Public Accountability Board (CPAB) back in November 2019 published inspection insights on Auditing in the Crypto-Asset Sector. It highlighted 48 Canadian reporting issuers with activities in the crypto-asset sector, and noted auditors didn’t understand what the risks were, relied on information without understanding its reliability, and didn’t get sufficient audit evidence to support their conclusions. (1)

Decentralized ID and Decentralized Identifier Methods

A U.S.-based CPA Firm started late last year to provide signed, on-demand, real-time independent accountant’s reports for examination-level (reasonable assurance) attestation of the conformance of certain of its clients’ reports in accordance with specific measurement and disclosure criteria. From a specialized website, anyone can click to download the related PDF report incorporating both the client’s report and the auditor’s report, both automatically generated on-the-spot.

That was a mouthful; one thing to pull out of this is that this CPA Firm is having its technology, not a person, sign an auditor’s report. No partner is sitting there to authorize the reports that are customized for the moment the requestor clicks for a report.

Broadly, this raises a litany of issues:

Are we ready to move forward if we will never return to the way things have always been done?