# Blockchain Architecture forAuditing Automation and TrustBuilding in Public Markets

**Authors:** Sean Cao, Lin William Cong, Meng Han, Qixuan Hou, Baozhong Yang  
**arXiv:** [2005.07627](https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.07627)  
**Date:** 2020-05-15  
**Summary page:** https://www.summarizepaper.com/en/paper/2005.07627v1/

## Key points

- Traditional reporting, verifying and auditing of business transactions by public firms is labor-intensive and time-consuming
- FutureAB (Future Auditing Blockchain) automates the reporting and auditing process to save time and increase efficiency
- Automation allows auditors to focus on discretionary accounts to better detect and prevent fraud
- Distributed-ledger technologies build investor trust and disrupt the auditing industry
- Multi-functional design of FutureAB allows for transaction verification without a trusted third party while preserving data privacy through a commitment scheme and security through immutability
- Smart contracts and wallets facilitate computerization and implementation of the system on Ethereum network
- Performance evaluation shows that FutureAB is effective in terms of encryption (0.012 seconds per transaction) and verification (0.001 seconds per transaction)
- The blockchain architecture has the potential to revolutionize the auditing industry by streamlining processes, increasing efficiency, reducing costs, enhancing transparency, improving accuracy as well as preventing frauds more effectively than traditional methods

## Summary

The process of reporting, verifying and auditing business transactions by public firms is traditionally a labor-intensive and time-consuming process. To address this issue, Sean Cao, Lin William Cong, Meng Han, Qixuan Hou and Baozhong Yang have designed FutureAB (Future Auditing Blockchain), which aims to automate the reporting and auditing process. This automation allows auditors to focus on discretionary accounts to better detect and prevent fraud. The authors demonstrate how distributed-ledger technologies build investor trust and disrupt the auditing industry. The multi-functional design of FutureAB indicates that auditing firms can automate transaction verification without the need for a trusted third party by collaborating and sharing their information while preserving data privacy through a commitment scheme and security through immutability. The authors also explore how smart contracts and wallets facilitate the computerization and implementation of their system on Ethereum network. Performance evaluation reveals that FutureAB is effective in terms of both encryption (0.012 seconds per transaction) and verification (0.001 seconds per transaction). The authors believe that their blockchain architecture has the potential to revolutionize the auditing industry by streamlining processes, increasing efficiency, reducing costs, enhancing transparency, improving accuracy as well as preventing frauds more effectively than traditional methods. Overall, this research highlights the potential benefits of blockchain technology in automating complex processes such as auditing in public markets. By leveraging distributed-ledger technologies like FutureAB with its commitment scheme for data privacy preservation and immutability for security enhancement along with smart contracts' automation capabilities on Ethereum network; businesses can streamline their operations while building investor trust at scale.