In this paper, we model the business process within which blockchain applications operate in order to extract an endogenous demand for auditing in that environment. We begin by undertaking a case study of the pharmaceutical drug industry supply chain, exploring both the proposed blockchain initiatives in it initiated by the FDA and startup companies, and the problems in the supply chain that blockchain cannot address. Drawing on this analysis, we derive an endogenous demand for auditing to overcome what we label the “first mile problem” (FMP) with blockchains: ensuring that the data stored on the blockchain distributed ledger is isomorphic with the real life data that it purports to represent. The first mile problem arises only when the blockchain is used to store data about physical items, especially ones involving a service component, rather than being native digital, as is the case with the genesis blockchain application, bitcoin. We show that unless it is feasible to store a “digital twin” of the item (Roberts, 2017), there is a role for auditors, with the training in professional skepticism, to help alleviate the first mile problem. There is no guarantee, however, that this new demand for auditing will be met by the traditional financial statement auditors.

在本文中，我们对区块链应用程序在其中运行的业务流程进行建模，以提取该环境中审计的内生需求。我们首先进行医药行业供应链的案例研究，探索由FDA和初创公司发起的提议的区块链计划，以及区块链无法解决的供应链问题。借助此分析，我们得出了一种内在的审计需求，以克服我们用区块链标记的“第一英里问题”（FMP）：确保存储在区块链分布式分类帐中的数据与它声称的真实数据同构代表。仅当使用区块链存储有关物理项目的数据（尤其是涉及服务组件的物理项目）时，才会出现第一英里问题 而不是像原生区块链应用（比特币）那样是本机数字。我们证明，除非可行的是存储项目的“数字孪生”（Roberts，2017年），否则，审计师在接受专业怀疑论者的培训后，将有助于减轻“一英里”问题。但是，不能保证传统的财务报表审计师可以满足这种新的审计需求。