In his talk, Jacob Lewtan discusses the growing disparity between innovative companies and the accounting profession; a profession with the purpose of protecting investors of a company. Lewtan proposes his framework that would allow specialized professions, such as accounting, to keep pace with innovation through the use of blockchain technology.
Forward-thinking innovator Jacob Lewtan sees the fourth industrial revolution as a persistent threat to the accounting profession. He draws upon his knowledge of the power of analytics, fraud, and monitoring to connect how the accounting profession can advance through use of emerging technologies.
Jacob Lewtan graduated with a Master’s of Professional Accountancy from Bryant University in 2018. Through the duration of his Master’s program, he grew an interest in how to ensure the integrity of financial data. Working with Dr. Saeed Roohani, Jacob authored a research paper detailing how blockchain and smart contracts could be used to improve financial reporting. He has presented research the Hawaii Accounting Research Conference and the American Accounting Association Joint-Midyear Conference for Accounting Information Systems and Strategic and Emerging Technologies. Currently, his paper is under review for publication in the American Accounting Association Journal of Emerging Technologies. During Jacob’s undergraduate studies at Bryant he was a member of the Student Government and the Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.