Blockchain-Driven Secure Auditing of Timber-to-Charcoal Supply Chain

Auditing processes must balance the data security of audited entities with vulnerabilities that enable fraud through, e.g., data tampering. As such, auditing processes have shortcomings that hinder effectiveness and expose businesses to financial and operational risks. This paper explores how blockchain can impact auditing through its decentralized and distributed ledger, cryptographic principles, and consensus mechanisms that can provide an immutable and auditable transaction history while ensuring data confidentiality. More specifically, we investigate the auditing of a timber-to-charcoal supply chain and show how blockchain can change the auditing to make it tamper-proof, efficient, and secure. First, we analyze how blockchain can overcome limitations inherent in traditional auditing processes. Then, we propose a decentralized and distributed solution using Hyperledger Fabric (HLF) specifically designed to audit the timber-to-charcoal supply chain. Finally, we implement the proposed solution’s proof-of-concept and evaluate its functionality, security, and performance. Our contribution extends existing research on integrating blockchain into auditing practices, promoting trust, transparency, and efficiency throughout the timber-to-charcoal supply chain.