Bitcoin and Beyond: Crypto Asset Considerations for Auditors

Given the relative nascency of digital assets, we provide auditing faculty, students, and practitioners with a holistic overview of digital assets. We first place digital assets within the context of money and describe the microstructure of a transaction using crypto-assets. We then focus on the considerations that digital assets present provide an explanation of auditor considerations associated with digital assets for auditors. We address the current accounting treatment of digital assets and explain the challenges posed by digital assets for auditors regarding the management assertions. We identify the fraud risk factors that auditors should be aware of, and describe potential innovations in the digital currency markets that could be the basis of discussions in the accounting and auditing classrooms in the future.