Blockchain and Smart Contracts in Modern Auditing: A Systematic Review

Abstract

This study conducts a systematic literature review (SLR) to examine the role of blockchain and smart contracts in modern auditing practice. Following the PRISMA 2020 protocol, 35 peer reviewed articles published between 2016 and 2025 were identified across Scopus, Web of Science, EBSCOhost, and Google Scholar, screened, appraised with the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool, and analyzed through NVivo assisted thematic synthesis. The review finds that blockchain and smart contracts primarily support continuous auditing, autonomous verification of digital assets, automated internal control monitoring, and privacy preserving financial reporting, while unresolved technical vulnerabilities, the oracle problem, scalability limits, absent audit standard guidance, and an acute auditor skills gap continue to constrain adoption. Agency theory dominates the theoretical landscape, though contract, complexity, and legitimacy theories remain underused. These findings imply that standard setters such as IAASB and PCAOB need blockchain specific guidance, and that audit curricula must be reformed to build blockchain literacy, while firms should treat adoption as contingent on technical maturity, regulatory readiness, and human capital rather than a universal remedy. Unlike prior bibliometric or narrative reviews, this study integrates technical, theoretical, and empirical clusters of literature into a single PRISMA based synthesis and proposes an integrative model in which audit quality gains from blockchain depend jointly on technological maturity, regulatory adequacy, and auditor competence.