Designing Privacy-Preserving Blockchain Based Accounting Information Systems

Blockchain is one of the most disruptive and promising emerging technologies, and it appears to have the potential for significantly affecting the accounting and auditing fields. Using blockchain technology, zero-knowledge proof and homomorphic encryption, this paper proposes a design of Blockchain based Accounting Information System and develops a prototype to demonstrate the functionality of the Blockchain based Accounting Information System in real-time accounting, continuous monitoring and continuous auditing as well as fraud detection. The computational performance of blockchain versus relational databases is evaluated and discussed. It is expected that blockchain would be a widely applicable infrastructure to support enterprise information systems and continuous auditing systems.