Blockchain in Accounting: How it Redefines AIS?

Abstract

The use of blockchain technology has become a gamechanger in the accounting industry, posing a threat to the traditional centralized and periodically verified Accounting Information Systems (AIS). Developed around three key principles of decentralization, immutability and smart contracts, blockchain provides a shared, continuously verifiable alternative to traditional record keeping, with the potential to improve the transparency of financial data, real-time reporting and to eliminate information asymmetry between financial data preparers and users. As a result, it opens up opportunities for continuous auditing, triple-entry accounting and improved financial reporting, but also brings with its complex challenges such as regulatory uncertainty, cost of implementation, technical limitations and scalability, and a lack of accounting professionals who are knowledgeable about blockchain. This research is based on two theoretical frameworks: Agency–Stakeholder Theory and the Technology Organization Environment (TOE) framework to explore the concept of AIS redefined by blockchain. Agency–Stakeholder Theory provides an insight into how distributed verification reduces the gap between the preparers and users of financial data, whereas TOE theory offers an understanding of why technological readiness, organizational ability, and regulatory context need to coalesce for adoption to be taken from the realm of conceptual promise to regular practice. This study employs a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) method and follows the PRISMA guidelines to investigate 20 peer-reviewed studies in the period 2018 to 2025 that focuses on how blockchain affects AIS architecture, the major applications of blockchain in accounting, the merits of blockchain in auditing and financial reporting, and the current challenges in blockchain adoption. Based on the findings, the redefinition of AIS by blockchain is definitely in a theoretical state but has not yet been fully implemented in practice and is not evenly distributed among contexts. The study, with its policy recommendations for regulators and professional bodies aspiring to bridge the blockchain promise-realization gap, applies these findings to the unique situation of Bangladesh, where blockchain infrastructure is being actively promoted while cryptocurrency is still prohibited. The results are particularly relevant for accounting practice and regulation and for future research in developing economies where innovation and financial stability are important and competing issues.