CASE-12 · 16 min
What an audit study establishes
Type of case study: Documented incident. Every figure is quoted from a named source and cited in the evidence register below. How far each source was checked is stated on the record itself.
Scenario
This case works from a real research finding rather than a constructed scenario: a 2024 study in the Review of Accounting Studies of roughly 8,500 hand-coded smart contract audit reports (EVD-2026-0005). The task is a reading task: determine which statements the finding supports — and which statements people routinely draw from it that it does not.
Data
- Object of study
- roughly 8,500 hand-coded smart contract audit reports
- Finding 1
- such audits are pervasive
- Finding 2
- the market consists of new, technically oriented audit firms
- Finding 3
- the scope of the audits varies considerably
- Finding 4
- inputs and outputs differ substantively from a conventional financial audit
- Finding 5
- the market reacts positively to the release of such reports
- Provenance of every figure
- EVD-2026-0005, verification: details checked
Questions
A protocol points to an audit report. Which of the five findings may you cite about that particular protocol — and which may you not?
What would this study gain in evidential force — and what could it still not deliver?
Analysis dimensions exercised
Sources
- EVD-2026-0005 — Review of Accounting Studies (Springer): Decentralized Finance (DeFi) assurance: early evidence
Institutional perspectives
Bank · Insurance · Advisory