Accountants’ Perception and Essential Skills on Blockchain Technology

Purpose: The expanded use of blockchain in accounting provides clarity over ownership of assets, the existence of obligations, recording transactions, transparency, and significantly improves efficiency. Therefore, Blockchain has the potential to enhance the accounting profession and may replace accountants’ main functions in the near future. The study aims to assess the awareness of accountants in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and investigate their application of BC. Methodology: A questionnaire composed of more than 20 questions, categorized into six areas of concern was distributed and 300 responded to it. A descriptive, correlation, and regression analysis has been conducted to assess whether accountants are familiar with BC technology and testes three hypotheses related to the objectives of the study. Findings: The main findings are; accountants are highly aware of the BC technology, they face difficulty in understanding the way it is applied, and there is a real gap between accountants and IT professionals. Originality: Very few studies investigated or asked accountants about their perception of the application of BC and what is its impact BC application on the future of the accounting profession. Therefore, the main justification of this study is to fill in this gap and ask a wide range of accountants in the MENA about their perception of BC application in the field of accounting. This will contribute to the literature as a new dimension of accounting and blockchain will be addressed and open the door for future research in this field.