Digital assets in accounting: the concept formation and the further development trajectory

Introduction. The transition to digital technologies stimulated the emergence of new accounting objects in the form of digital assets whose features are problematic for being displayed in a rather tightly regulated system of accounting and reporting standards. In the context of emerging new ways of using crypto assets in business practice and increasing the volume of transactions with them, accounting has problems with displaying digital assets in part of confirming their controllability, their assessment at various stages of the life cycle, and identification of participants of cryptocurrency transactions. The paper deals with impact of economy digitalization on accounting methodology in the context of the Industry 4.0, in particular, the prospects for a separate display of digital assets in financial statements. Purpose. This article is aimed at the systematic substantiation of the exclusive status of digital assets as a fundamentally new accounting object in order to further develop, on this basis, the strategy for the development of their accounting and displaying them in the companies’ reporting. Methods. The paper contains a critical analysis of scientific publications devoted to the essence, status and features of the digital assets’ use, as well as the formation of information about them in the accounting and financial statements. The authors have carried out a bibliometric analysis of the frequency of use of terminology in the field of digital assets with the help of special software (VOSviewer and Google Trends). Results. The authors have developed a taxonomy of digital assets based on the use of distributed ledger technology and cryptography. The paper also explores the issue of the differentiated application of existing valuation bases for various types of digital assets. The article systemizes approaches to the deanonymization of participants in transactions with crypto assets which are used to control their origin and the legal regime of applying, for the purpose of rational organization and accounting of them. Conclusions. There is a need to introduce a separate standard designed to regulate accounting and display of digital assets in financial statements, in order to provide stakeholders with relevant information in the process of making managerial and investment decisions.