A Certified Public Accountant, James Kasim formerly served as the chief financial officer of Pacific Office Properties Trust, Inc. Currently the leader of the financial department of a commercial real estate company, James “Jim” Kasim is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), which just published an article discussing the accounting opportunities inherent in blockchain technology. 

Blockchain is the technology that supports bitcoin. Much attention has been paid to the cryptocurrency, but blockchain technology is also revolutionary, and it bears significant implications for the accounting profession. 

Similar to the stacked Internet protocols that make sending and receiving emails possible, blockchain is a decentralized database that supports transactions such as sending assets, including bitcoin. If a person is sending an asset, he or she sends it over the network secured with an encryption key. Each completed transaction appears as a block linked to a previous block on the network. 

Ths blockchain works like a ledger in that every transaction is supported by a timestamp and a link to the previous transaction. In addition, all transactions are permanently included in the network, providing transparency to transactions. 

This technology is bringing significant implications outside the world of cryptocurrency. In accounting, blockchain will simplify procurement because it allows secure recording of transactions. The transparency created by blockchain will make validation work simpler for auditors, giving them more time to focus on strengthening controls and uncovering anomalies.