How Blockchain technology could change an accountant’s role.

According to Deloitte, there are several specific-use cases where Blockchain technology can prove to be useful for a company’s accounts department. Some of these are listed below:

1. Budgeting and Forecasting — allowing transfer of value/cash between departments, as indeed IBM is doing, using the Stellar cryptocurrency. The use of Blockchain also creates better transparency and internal accountability.

2. Inter-company reconciliations — eliminating inter-company entries. Blockchain technology can potentially replace double entry book-keeping systems, as it creates single records for all transactions. The immutable nature and the historical record maintenance enable accurate consolidation of financial reports, enforcing documentation of intercompany transactions.

3. Financial Audit — all financial records are maintained in real-time, so potentially enabling daily, not monthly, management accounting. As there is one record which does not need to be verified by third parties, costs can be removed (such as audit) whilst also offering greater transparency of a company’s, and potentially a supplier’s, financial records.

4. Vendor Management — Smart Contracts allow one to create requisitions and manage vendors. Smart Contracts can be created to automatically make and receive payments, thus improving cash flow and eliminate the need for reconciliation.

5. Shareholder Voting — As reported by the FT, Santander was the first public company to use Blockchain…