Accounting for crypto-assets: stakeholders’ perceptions

Jun Heng Chou, Prerana Agrawal and Jacqueline Birt

Studies in Economics and Finance, 2022, vol. 39, issue 3, 471-489

Abstract: Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyse stakeholders’ perceptions on the accounting of crypto-assets. They also look at the need to amend/clarify existing accounting standards or develop new accounting standards. Design/methodology/approach - The authors use a qualitative approach featuring interviews with four stakeholder groups including academics, professional bodies, standard setters and accounting practitioners. Interview recordings are transcribed and then analysed through NVivo. Findings - The interviewees identify various issues in the application of current accounting standards to crypto-assets. The interviewees perceive that the rapid development of crypto-assets and fluidity hinder the development of accounting guidance. Hence, continuous monitoring by standard-setters is required. The general consensus is that unless there are crypto-assets with economic characteristics and functionality that are pervasive enough to warrant a new accounting standard, principles of current accounting standards are robust to address gaps in accounting requirements for crypto-assets. Originality/value - This study adds to the discussion on harmonising the current practices in accounting of crypto-assets. By examining perceptions of multiple stakeholder groups, this study provides insights into the applicability of current accounting standards to the classification, measurement and disclosure of crypto-assets. The findings will inform standard setters and aid their efforts towards providing formal guidance on the accounting of crypto-assets.

Keywords: Crypto-assets; International financial reporting standards (IFRS); Financial reporting; Interviews; Standard setting process; Stakeholders; Legitimacy; Qualitative study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:sefpps:sef-10-2021-0469

DOI: 10.1108/SEF-10-2021-0469

Access Statistics for this article

Studies in Economics and Finance is currently edited by Prof Niklas Wagner

More articles in Studies in Economics and Finance from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().