In a recent survey of academic research, Fintech related topics, broadly classified as crypto-currency studies, were by far the most researched topics in the social sciences. However, we have observed that, perhaps surprisingly, even though crypto-currencies rely on a distributed accounting ledger technology, relatively few of those studies were conducted by accounting academics. While some of the features of a system like Bitcoin do not necessarily rely on a traditional accounting knowledge, this knowledge is key in designing effective real-world distributed systems. Building on a foundational framework developed by Risius and Spohrer (2017), we provide support for their hypothesis that to date, research in this area has been predominantly of a somewhat narrow focus (i.e., based upon exploiting existing programming solutions without adequately considering the fundamental needs of users). This is particularly reflected by the abundance of Bitcoin-like crypto-currency code-bases with little or no place for business applications. We suggest that this may severely limit an appreciation of the relevance and applicability of decentralized systems, and how they may support value creation and improved governance. We provide supporting arguments for this statement by considering four applied classes of problems where a blockchain/distributed ledger can add value without requiring a crypto-currency to be an integral part of the functioning system. We note that each class of problem has been viewed previously as part of accounting issues within the legacy centralized ledger systems paradigm. We show how accounting knowledge is still relevant in the shift from centralized to decentralized ledger systems. We advance the debate on the development of (crypto-currency free) value-creating distributed ledger systems by showing that applying accounting knowledge in this area has potentially a much wider impact than that currently being applied in areas limited to auditing and operations management. We develop a typology for general distributed ledger design which assists potential users to understand the wide range of choices when developing such systems.

在最近的一项学术研究调查中，金融科技相关主题，广义上归类为加密货币研究，是迄今为止社会科学中研究最多的主题。然而，我们观察到，也许令人惊讶的是，尽管加密货币依赖于分布式会计账本技术，但会计学者进行的研究相对较少。虽然像比特币这样的系统的一些功能不一定依赖于传统的会计知识，但这种知识是设计有效的现实世界分布式系统的关键。基于 Risius 和 Spohrer（2017 年）开发的基础框架，我们为他们的假设提供支持，即迄今为止，该领域的研究主要集中在一些狭窄的领域（即，基于利用现有的编程解决方案而没有充分考虑用户的基本需求）。这尤其体现在大量类似比特币的加密货币代码库中，几乎没有或没有商业应用程序的位置。我们认为这可能会严重限制对去中心化系统的相关性和适用性的理解，以及它们如何支持价值创造和改进治理。我们通过考虑四类应用问题来为该声明提供支持论据，其中区块链/分布式账本可以增加价值，而无需加密货币成为功能系统的组成部分。我们注意到，每一类问题以前都被视为传统集中式分类账系统范式中会计问题的一部分。我们展示了会计知识在从集中式到分散式分类账系统的转变中仍然具有相关性。我们通过展示在该领域应用会计知识可能比目前在仅限于审计和运营管理的领域应用的影响更广泛，从而推进关于（无加密货币）价值创造分布式账本系统开发的辩论。我们为通用分布式账本设计开发了一种类型学，帮助潜在用户在开发此类系统时了解广泛的选择。我们通过展示在该领域应用会计知识可能比目前在仅限于审计和运营管理的领域应用的影响更广泛，从而推进关于（无加密货币）价值创造分布式账本系统开发的辩论。我们为通用分布式账本设计开发了一种类型学，帮助潜在用户在开发此类系统时了解广泛的选择。我们通过展示在该领域应用会计知识可能比目前应用于仅限于审计和运营管理的领域更广泛的影响来推进关于（无加密货币）价值创造分布式账本系统开发的辩论。我们为通用分布式账本设计开发了一种类型学，帮助潜在用户在开发此类系统时了解广泛的选择。