As more industries and companies get involved with digital assets and blockchain business opportunities, accountants are taking the lead in familiarizing themselves with these technologies.
“A lot of companies are getting engaged in transactions that involve blockchain technologies and digital assets,” says Yoland Sinclair, CPA, senior manager, Audit & Assurance Services, Deloitte, and contributor to the AICPA Digital Assets Working Group “Accountants play a very key role in providing information to users, be that internal or external, of helping them understand what these assets are.”
As reported in the article "What CPAs need to know about NFTs"in the Journal of Accountancy, by the end of the decade, many companies and individuals will face accounting and financial reporting challenges tied to digital assets. Thus, CPAs who work in certain areas will need to be well versed on digital assets to answer client questions.
Fortunately, accountants are well-positioned with and in organizations to provide expertise. As organizations work with digital assets and blockchain technology, Sean Prince, CPA, partner, Crowe, LLP, and member of the AICPA Digital Assets Working Group, notes that accountants can help organizations gain an understanding on the rights and obligations that result from working with these technologies and how they should be considered in financial reports to best serve investors.
“As we get more involved with them, we'll be able to talk with regulators, share important information both in financial statements and the information that accompanies those financial statements to make sure that capital markets, including these new digital assets, continue to run efficiently,” says Prince.