## 2 Background and Related Works
### Impact of Blockchain on Accounting  
Blockchain technology is increasingly recognised as a transformative force in accounting and business operations, with research indicating its potential to enhance transparency and security in financial transactions. Blockchain innovation has the potential to enhance legacy infrastructures [2; 15] that surround economic activities by creating new and improved blockchain-based business models, which, in itself, is believed to be one of the major factors behind the push for DLT adoption by industry [2; 15]. This will allow for a fundamentally different way of conducting and tracking financial transactions and could thus challenge the centralised nature of existing financial systems, starting with central banks [2; 15] and extending to diverse participants in the economy. Blockchain-based accounting is gaining increasing attention from both industry and academia [16; 17; 18; 19]. According to [16], accounting has emerged as a significant sector standing to benefit from the adoption of blockchain technology. The inherent immutability feature of blockchain is expected to facilitate the tamper-proof creation and maintenance of permanent and timely records of transactional data [19], thus enhancing the reliability of record-keeping. This attribute of blockchain also offers network participants a robust capability for detecting any manipulation or alteration of recorded transactional data [20], thus discouraging improper accounting practices and transactional data manipulation and mitigating fraud [20; 21]. The immutability and decentralisation of transparency [22] afforded by blockchain presents opportunities for verifiable data access and sharing, close-to-real-time reporting, and transactional history verification. Improved transparency minimises data asymmetry between stakeholders [22; 23]. These aspects promote the advancement of the integrity and reliability of accounting processes and offer the establishment of more secure and transparent blockchain-underpinned accounting controls to counteract the likelihood of unethical conduct [16]. Studies such as those by [24; 25] look into how blockchain can secure data transmission in reporting and auditing processes. They highlight the importance of cryptography in strengthening the trustworthiness of financial information [26]. Emerging research also points to the role of blockchain in reshaping future decision-making processes by integrating advanced technologies like AI and Big Data analytics. As reported in [2], relevant business processes related to current Big Data analytics and the importance of filtering and signal extraction utilised by industry are growing [27; 28; 29]. The opportunity here is to improve the current limitations in the transaction processing life cycle, such as problems related to the quality and completeness of messaging between systems, the lack of reference data systems, various problems with bookkeeping, and manual or even paper-based confirmations [30]. This integration could revolutionise the accounting profession, altering the traditional roles of accountants and auditors, as identified in [26; 31]. Lastly, the effectiveness of blockchain in fraud detection has been studied across various business domains, including insurance, banking, and real estate. The literature on the application of blockchain technology to mitigating accounting fraud reveals a consensus that blockchain provides a secure and transparent platform that various stakeholders can trust to prevent fraudulent activity [32]. [PERSON] [16] identifies one of the core problems with existing accounting practices as the ability to conduct fraud through the use of accounting manipulation and concealment techniques. The author defines accounting fraud as the deliberate preparation and dissemination of accounting records through the direct or indirect involvement of the top management of an organisation.