Some people say that blockchain is to money what HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is to information and XML (Extensible Markup Language) is to data. If so, then financial professionals potentially have a greater responsibility to understanding and overseeing blockchain efforts than they did with the investor relations page and to their XBRL filings.
Do you keep your keys in your wallet? Few people carry house, business or car keys in the wallet carried in their pocket or purse, unless the “key” is a key card. But when we are discussing Bitcoin and its friends, that is precisely what is in your wallet. As financial professionals, understanding this emerging world of cryptographic wallets and keys will become increasingly important, as the value represented by amounts or goods controlled by those addresses become more mainstream and only accessible with those keys, with limited backup and no backdoor.
Having worked closely with UiPath StudioX for the last four months, I thought it would be good to revisit some of my points from my earlier series on Robotic Process Automation (RPA), particularly on where “RPA approaches” and “pure programmatic approaches” overlap and contrast.
When we talk about emerging technologies in accounting and finance, there’s the list of usual suspects: artificial intelligence, blockchain, drones, Internet of Things, virtual/augmented reality, XBRL and, perhaps, 3D printing. One topic may or may not be in your list of the top 10 tech developments, but has been hit hard and often in our world: Robotic Process Automation (RPA).
Part of the crux of the issues related to the future of corporate reporting is the nature of a “report.” Is a report something that through conventions makes browsing the information simpler and comparing two reports (either across organizations or across periods) simpler? Does breaking information into multiple interconnected reports, like a web site that gets you started and points you elsewhere as necessary, make more sense? Can the information be abstracted but standardized sufficiently for people to create their own reports that better reflect their own demands and circumstances?
Can corporate reporting be “more effective and engaging for all those with an interest” in an organization? Is technology a facilitator, and can it be a greater facilitator? And is a “feedback loop” between management and the stakeholders a necessary part of that process?
We are continuing a series of blog entries specifically about the FRC’s (UK’s Financial Reporting Council) A Matter of Principles: The Future of Corporate Reporting, a discussion paper published in October 2020 with comments requested by February 5, 2021. In this entry, we are focusing on one sentence within the principle-based document:
Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada), one of the largest national accounting organizations in the world, has chosen to become a founding partner of ThinkTwenty20.
