Big Four auditing firm PwC announced the release of a cryptocurrency auditing software solution in a press release published on June 19.
Per the release, the tool newly added to PwC’s Halo auditing suite can be used to “provide assurance services for entities engaging in cryptocurrency transactions.” The firm claims that, with the new addition, the Halo suite permits PwC to provide independent evidence of private-public key pairing (to establish crypto asset ownership), and gather information about transactions and balances from blockchains.
PwC further notes that it is already employing the new tool to support audits of clients involved with cryptocurrencies, and assisting companies for which the firm is not the auditor in implementing processes and controls necessary to obtain assurance reports from their auditors. Still, the company notes that the tool is not without its limitations:
“Our ability to audit an entity engaged in cryptocurrency activities is very much influenced by our client’s control environment, and at this stage, by the breadth of tokens supported by our Halo software. These considerations will be key when determining whether we are comfortable to accept an audit engagement.”
Lastly, it is specified in the announcement that the new addition to the Halo suite supports bitcoin (BTC), bitcoin cash (BCH), bitcoin gold (BTG), bitcoin diamond (BCD), litecoin (LTC), ether (ETH), OAX (ERC20 token) and XRP.
As Cointelegraph reported at the time, PwC was the top recruiter for blockchain-related jobs on recruitment platform Indeed at the end of March.
Also at the end of March, PwC competitor and big four auditing firm Deloitte announced that it was testing data management on the Ethereum blockchain with three Irish banks.