TELEOLOGY OF TRANSPARENCY IN DIGITAL GOVERNANCE: INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE OF BLOCKCHAIN INTEGRATION INTO INTERNAL AUDIT

Abstract

The article offers a scholarly and methodological conceptualization of the teleology of transparency in internal auditing under conditions of digital transformation and the integration of blockchain technology into corporate control systems. It argues that traditional audit techniques are losing epistemic effectiveness due to growing data volumes, transaction speed, and cyber-risk, which necessitates a reconsideration of the very ontology of audit as a mechanism for generating trust. The study substantiates that blockchain is not merely a tool for procedural automation but a new ontological form of truth-a system in which veracity assumes an axiomatic character and fact-checking occurs continuously and in a decentralized manner. The article reviews leading scholarly approaches to issues of Internal Audit Quality (IAQ), control automation, and the philosophical dimensions of technological objectivity. Based on critical analysis, it identifies four key mechanisms through which blockchain affects IAQ: immutability of the audit trail, decentralized validation, algorithmic compliance logic, and real-time analytics. The research employs comparative analysis, content analysis, case study, and the dialectical method of inquiry, enabling examination of the nexus between technological rationality and the ethical teleology of the audit process. At the empirical level, an international comparative assessment of blockchain’s impact on internal audit effectiveness is conducted in two contrasting institutional settings -Switzerland (Migros Group) and Türkiye (Türkiye İşBankası). The results demonstrate a convergent effect: a 40-43% reduction in audit cycle duration, a 65-71% decrease in error rates, and a 35% reduction in costs. These findings indicate that blockchain transforms control from a retrospective function into in-process control, creating conditions for continuous verification of managerial decisions. At the same time, the analysis highlights the need for a new ethical-legal framework to delineate responsibility for algorithmic actions and to avoid an “illusion of truth”. The paper concludes that blockchain serves as an infrastructure of epistemic discipline, disciplining data, processes, and decisions by combining technical objectivity with the philosophical category of trust. Future research directions include longitudinal measurement of IAQ, standardization of smart-contract audit procedures, development of an ethical-legal framework for algorithmic control, and the cognitive adaptation of auditors to digital environments. Thus, the article demonstrates that the teleology of transparency in digital auditing is not merely a quest for technological truth but a process of shaping a new ethics of managerial rationalism and trust in the digital economy.