For small CPA firms and bookkeeping practices
One receipt covers a whole closed period. Show one schedule later without showing the rest.
A firm's closed workpaper set for a single period is sealed together in one step. Any single schedule can be proven part of that set on any future date.
What this means for you
- Workpaper bytes are hashed on your device rather than uploaded; folder manifest metadata includes relative paths, digests, sizes, and the root.
- One successful receipt commits to every workpaper's relative path and digest.
- Verify one disclosed schedule without supplying the other workpaper files.
How it works
Each workpaper gets a fingerprint — a 64-character code that changes if a single byte of the file changes. The fingerprints are computed on your own machine; the files themselves are not uploaded.
The fingerprints and relative paths are combined into one fingerprint for the whole folder. The anchoring request includes manifest metadata and the root, but not the workpaper bytes.
Once an OpenTimestamps proof is confirmed against Bitcoin, a verifier can test a disclosed schedule and its recorded path against the receipt. The proof supports the Bitcoin block-time bound, not an independently verified close or partner-sign-off date.
For the technically curious
Show the cryptographic detail
The suggested workflow is one folder submission per closed period. The folder can contain the trial balance, supporting reconciliations, bank statements, schedules, analytical procedures, and signed engagement materials. The receipt does not independently establish that a close or partner sign-off occurred.
The desktop or browser tool computes a SHA-256 fingerprint of each workpaper, binds the literal relative path into a leaf hash, and assembles the leaves into a Merkle tree whose root is submitted to the OpenTimestamps calendars. Workpaper bytes are not uploaded, but relative paths, digests, sizes, and the root are submitted as manifest metadata. Separate client/period submissions produce separate receipts when each request succeeds.
Two years after a return is filed, a partner-level review questions one schedule. The firm produces an inclusion proof for that schedule in the anchored closed-workpaper folder for the relevant period. The unrelated reconciliations, the client's other accounts, and the firm's other clients' workpapers from the same period are not exposed by the proof. The receipt does not establish that the schedule was correctly prepared; it establishes that the schedule, under the recorded relative path, existed by the time of the recorded Bitcoin block.
The folder receipt records the Merkle root, per-leaf relative paths, SHA-256 digests, byte sizes, and available OpenTimestamps attestations. The root commits to each relative path and file digest; the byte sizes are recorded beside them but are not part of what the root commits to. An optional valid did:key signature can show that the corresponding private key signed the manifest. Orphograph does not establish who controls that key, validate a CPA license, or certify partner authority.
Questions
Where do my workpapers go?
The workpaper bytes remain on your machine. The service receives the folder manifest metadata and root, including literal relative paths, so use non-sensitive filenames or renamed copies where path disclosure matters.
Is this a substitute for workpaper-retention obligations?
No. The retention obligations imposed by professional standards, by the state board of accountancy, and by the applicable tax authority remain the responsibility of the firm.
Does the receipt say the return was correctly prepared?
No. The receipt records that the workpaper set existed by the recorded Bitcoin block. The professional judgement applied to the engagement remains the responsibility of the firm and its licensed partners.
Can the firm anchor multiple clients' folders on the same date?
Yes, by submitting each client folder separately. Each successful request receives its own receipt. A single-folder inclusion proof does not require another folder's files, although operational logs and account records are outside that cryptographic claim.
Orphograph anchors evidence of existence; it does not certify authorship, ownership, or legality. Each user retains responsibility for the underlying files, their consent to capture, and their handling under applicable law. The office is not a law firm, not a regulated medical-records system, not a qualified electronic trust service, and not a legal or financial advisor. No claim of compliance with any board of accountancy, professional-standards body, or tax-authority requirement is asserted; independent attorney review experienced in accountant-professional-liability matters is required before any productized claim of workpaper-integrity utility.