Analysis of the impact of blockchain on auditing based on future research approach

This study examines the impact of the audit expectation gap on audit quality and audit fees in Iraq's competitive market. The primary objective of the research is to analyze the relationship between the expectation gap, auditor experience, and market competition with audit quality and audit fees. To conduct this study, statistical models and data related to auditors and audit firms in Iraq were utilized. The results indicate that auditor experience has a positive and significant effect on audit quality, and market competition can enhance the impact of auditor experience on audit quality. Additionally, the audit expectation gap has a negative and significant relationship with audit quality. Moreover, market competition exacerbates the impact of the audit expectation gap on audit fees. Based on its findings, this research recommends that audit firms focus on enhancing auditor experience and managing market competition. Furthermore, it is suggested that future research incorporate more diverse criteria for assessing the expectation gap and market competition to achieve more comprehensive results.

In this study, the concept of the expectation gap (AEG), which is thought to be at the center of the criticism towards the audit profession, is discussed. The AEG can be explained as the difference between the performances and expectations of the parties to the audit. The aim of the study is to examine the current status and global trends of AEG scientific publications in Scopus and Web of Science databases with bibliometric analysis. For this purpose, in the search conducted with the keyword "Audit Expectation Gap" in both databases, 117 publications covering the years 1992-2024 were evaluated comparatively. The data were analysed by using Excel and VOSviewer programs. The findings show that approximately 40 per cent of AEG research has been conducted in the last five years. The leading countries are the United Kingdom, Australia, Malaysia and Iran. The most productive authors are Humphrey, C., Coram, P. J. and Lee, T.H. The common keywords that stand out are auditing, auditors, auditor’s report, key audit matters and audit quality. The overlap rate of the databases is 35% and the coverage of Scopus was found to be wider. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the effects/interactions of AEG research in terms of both databases. Keywords: Audit, Expectation Gap, Bibliometric Analysis, Scopus, WoS, VOSviewer JEL Codes: M42, C88

Purpose The expectation gap between auditors and users has recently been the topic of many controversies. This paper aims to evaluate the relationship between auditor’s characteristics and audit expectation gap among information users in listed companies on the Tehran stock exchange market. In other words, the study attempts to find whether there is a significant relationship between audit components and the audit expectation gap or not. Design/methodology/approach The multiple regression model is used to test the hypotheses. Research hypotheses are tested using a sample of 78 listed companies on the Tehran stock exchange during 2012-2016, by using integrated data technique of the multiple regression model. Findings The findings show that standard audit fees are not significantly associated with the audit expectation gap. Furthermore, audit fees are negatively associated with the audit expectation gap, which provides that allocated audit price in financial statements gives useful information for external and internal individuals. Predictably, it is recommended that audit opinion significantly determines the level of the audit expectation gap. The authors also find that the independence of the director boards and audit committee members fulfill the expectation gap of individual users. Moreover, finding the negative impact of audit firms ranking on the expectation gap, supports the idea of higher ranked audit firms provide high quality services, and consequently, more reliable information. Finally, the results show that the audit record is positively associated with the audit expectation gap. Originality/value As all recent studies on the expectation gap were qualitative, the present study is the first paper, which measures the expectation gap quantitatively through the statistical method.

The study examined the status and impact of audit education on the audit expectation gap, as existence of such a gap is noted to be harmful to the accounting and auditing profession. Accordingly, undergraduates of a regional national university in Sri Lanka (in three categories as: undergraduates who had not followed an auditing course, who had followed a basic auditing course, and who had followed an advanced auditing course) and professional auditors were selected and a questionnaire survey that included statements on the duties of the auditors was administered. The results of the independent sample t-test indicate the existence of an audit expectation gap in the Sri Lankan context; and that audit education had an effect in reducing such a gap. However, further analysis indicated that only an advanced auditing course had resulted in minimizing such expectation gap (particularly in reducing the unreasonable expectation gap) compared to who had followed a basic auditing course. These findings are expected to have significant educational policy implications. KEYWORDS Audit Education, Audit Expectation Gap, Professional Auditors, Undergraduates

The auditing profession believes the increase of litigation and criticism against the auditors can be contributed to the audit expectation gap. The audit expectation gap is defined as the difference between what the public expects from an audit and what audit profession accepts the audit objective to be. The audit expectation gap is critical to the auditing profession because the greater the unfulfilled expectations from the public, the lower is the credibility, earning potential and prestige associated with the work of auditors. The objectives of the paper are two-fold. Firstly, it attempts to uncover the causes of an audit expectation gap. Secondly, it reviews the possible solutions in narrowing the gap. This paper aims to provide an insight into issues of the audit expectation gap which in turn enable the audit profession and the profession's regulatory bodies to take effective steps in narrowing the audit expectation gap.

In recent years there appears to have been a veritable boom in the provision of ‘quality audits’– that is, audits of organizations' production processes and management systems. Despite the rising significance of this international audit movement affecting hundreds of thousands of organizations world‐wide, there has been limited interest in, or critique of, the practice of quality audit by academic auditing researchers. This paper traces the history of quality assurance standards and auditing and finds that quality auditing is not simply an outgrowth of an engineering inspection function. Rather, for several decades, quality auditors have consciously modelled their practice on that of the statutory financial audit, which in turn, exposes them to similar issues with regard to the long standing ‘expectations gap’ debate. Yet, despite what the authors argue are critical links with the financial audit, there has not been any notable involvement on the part of the accounting profession with quality auditing. The growing demand for ‘added‐value’ audits poses considerable questions for the future development and organizational significance of quality auditing. Current developments in both quality and financial audit services suggest that these two influential audit movements are now competing against each other to promote business excellence and contribute to business strategy.

The study examined the status and impact of audit education on the audit expectation gap, as existence of such a gap is noted to be harmful to the accounting and auditing profession. Accordingly, undergraduates of a regional national university in Sri Lanka (in three categories as: undergraduates who had not followed an auditing course, who had followed a basic auditing course, and who had followed an advanced auditing course) and professional auditors were selected and a questionnaire survey that included statements on the duties of the auditors was administered. The results of the independent sample t-test indicate the existence of an audit expectation gap in the Sri Lankan context; and that audit education had an effect in reducing such a gap. However, further analysis indicated that only an advanced auditing course had resulted in minimizing such expectation gap (particularly in reducing the unreasonable expectation gap) compared to who had followed a basic auditing course. These findings are expected to have significant educational policy implications.

The study examined the status and impact of audit education on the audit expectation gap, as existence of such a gap is noted to be harmful to the accounting and auditing profession. Accordingly, undergraduates of a regional national university in Sri Lanka (in three categories as: undergraduates who had not followed an auditing course, who had followed a basic auditing course, and who had followed an advanced auditing course) and professional auditors were selected and a questionnaire survey that included statements on the duties of the auditors was administered. The results of the independent sample t-test indicate the existence of an audit expectation gap in the Sri Lankan context; and that audit education had an effect in reducing such a gap. However, further analysis indicated that only an advanced auditing course had resulted in minimizing such expectation gap (particularly in reducing the unreasonable expectation gap) compared to who had followed a basic auditing course. These findings are expected to have significant educational policy implications.

This study aims to determine the effect of accounting knowledge, qualifications and work experience of auditors on the audit expectation gap and audit expectation gap in the quality of the audit report. In addition, this study investigated the mediating role of audit expectation gap. Structured questionnaire was distributed randomly to 86 auditee of 43 Local Government Organizations in Banten Province. A total of 70 questionnaires of the completed and analyzed. The sample in this study were taken by using the data collection method called purposive sampling . The criteria of the sample in this study is the fourth echelon officials in charge of finance and reporting. The data obtained were analyzed by using PLS analysis technique (Partial Least Square) through the PLS software. Moreover, to test the hypothesis of the mediating, Sobel test was used to examine the relationship existing intervening variables in the hypothesis . The results showed that accounting knowledge no effect in reducing the gap expectations of the audit, and the audit expectation gap can not mediate accounting knowledge on the quality of the audit report. Auditor's qualifications and work experience effect in reducing the gap expectations of audit and audit expectation gap may mediate the effect of qualifications and work experience of the quality of the audit report. Review findings have implications for understanding change accounting knowledge auditee against the auditor in the audit process is very important and the importance of the recruitment of auditors who have the educational background of accounting. Keywords : Accounting knowledge, accounting qualification, worok experience,audit expectation gap and quality of audit report.

Purpose: Audit failures around the world, have contributed to high-profile corporate scandals, severely impeding global economic growth. We investigate the extent to which the public trust, the public interest and the audit expectation gap, impact global financial stability and economic growth, contributing to understanding the purpose of external oversight over audit activities. These critical components of the audit environment, represent the essential elements necessary for regulating the global audit profession. Methodology: The proportion of revenue derived from audit services and non-audit services of the big four audit firms, is used as a proxy to measure the ‘audit expectation gap’. The resultant ‘audit expectation gap’ for the period 2005 to 2020, is juxtaposed against the global GDP growth for the same period, supporting the conceptual assertion that proper regulation of the audit expectation gap enables a stable financial environment, conducive for promoting economic growth. Findings: The study finds that the audit expectation gap increases during stable economic conditions, as illustrated by the reduction in the proportion of audit revenue to non-audit revenue, conversely reducing during volatile economic conditions. Originality/Value: This paper which uses the audit expectation gap as a proxy for the demand of audit services, contributes to understanding the dynamic relationship between the audit expectation gap and global economic growth, as well as the crucial role of external oversight over audit activities.

The audit expectation gap (AEG) is denoted as the difference between what the public expects from an audit function and what the audit profession accepts the objective of auditing to be. The existence of an audit expectation gap is likely to be detrimental to the value of auditing and the well-being of the auditing profession as the contribution of auditing may not be fully recognized by society. This has stirred a number of professional and regulatory reforms aimed at protecting shareholders who rely on the financial statements for decision purposes. In spite of the existence of research pointing to the difference between what the public expects from audit and what the audit profession accepts as the objective of auditing, there appears to be paucity of research on how to address this issue in Nigeria. Therefore, this research investigates whether audit expectation gap exists in Nigeria and the perception of the users’ group on its existence. Respondents view was also sought on how the gap could be narrowed. Three hypotheses were formulated and tested using the analysis of variance. The study reveals that an audit expectation gap exists in Nigeria, particularly on issues concerning auditor’s responsibility. It was also observed that there are significant differences in the perception of respondent groups on the existence of the audit expectation gap in Nigeria. Therefore, the study suggests educating the public about the objects of an audit, auditors’ role and responsibilities to narrow the audit expectation gap. Key words: Audit, audit expectation gap, public expectation, Nigeria.

The aim of this study is to empirically explore the existence of the audit expectation gap and its impact on investors’ confidence. As a maiden attempt to assess these relationships, we developed a model with higher order constructs using a partial least-squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM). Based on a questionnaire survey with auditors and institutional investors, as one of the main users of audited financial statements, this study explored investors’ perceptions of both unreasonable and sensible audit expectation gaps from diverse aspects. The findings of this study revealed that the existence of an audit expectation gap was negatively related to investors’ confidence, and the greater the audit expectation gap was, the lower the investors’ confidence on audit. It was also found that auditors’ perceived independence and improved level of communication were negatively related with the audit expectation gap but positively related with investors’ confidence. Moreover, the monitoring role of independent audit oversight acts as a moderator among auditors’ perceived independence, auditors’ improved level of communication, audit expectation gap, and investors’ confidence. As the innate characteristic of an audit is to resolve conflict between owners and management of the organization, this study provides insight about what the investors (owners) expect from the audit and how to mitigate those expectation gaps.

From the very beginning, auditing is pretty much a self-regulated profession and has some ethical rules of thumb to follow in practice. But the plethora of corporate failures and scandals in recent past where auditors’ instrumental role is evident in many instances raise question about the validity and suitability of “self-regulation” in auditing, especially in Nigeria and some other parts of the world where auditors need to perform auditing in ever complex risk management process. However, to restore the public confidences within and outside the auditing profession and to raise the overall audit quality, many countries are establishing some super regulatory bodies to set accounting and auditing standards and regulate the activities of auditors with a view to reducing audit expectation gap. The reason for this paradigm shift is because events over the last decades has shown that an inverse relationship appears to be existing between efforts being made to reduce audit expectations gap by accounting and auditing profession and the actual number of audit failures. This study adopted a cross sectional survey design. This was designed to investigate whether there is a relationship between the self-regulation of accounting and auditing profession in Nigeria and audit expectation gap. Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was used for data analysis. The finding shows a strong relationship between self-regulation and audit expectation gap and the deficient standard gap is not only associated with selfregulation but other legal pronouncements which the respondents considered obsolete and need to be revamped.

ABSTRACTThis exploratory study investigates the implementation of key audit matters (KAM) in audit reports under ISA701 to better understand how KAM disclosures may help narrow the audit expectations gap. The study draws on findings from semi‐structured interviews with 28 professional stakeholders from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The study's aim was to explore the relationship between KAM disclosures and the audit expectations gap considering audit quality concerns. Our findings reveal that (i) financial statement users report that they better understand what the auditor does, which enhanced their confidence in the audit process; and (ii) at least some financial statement users report that KAM disclosures provide new information about companies' risks that management was not already providing. We further report that many interviewees (particularly Big Four external auditors) indicated that the KAM reforms did not enhance audit quality in KSA. Interestingly, a small number of non‐Big Four auditors believed that KAM disclosures have enhanced audit quality. The key message is that the KAM reforms did not necessarily improve audit quality but that they are perceived to have played a role in further narrowing the audit expectations gap and reducing the need for communication, thus creating market efficiencies.

The audit expectation gap has preoccupied the finance and accounting profession for a long time. Considerable research has been conducted into this issue and attempts have been made to provide an accurate definition of the audit expectation gap, model this concept and assess the possibilities of its narrowing. Also, a number of studies investigate whether there is an audit expectation gap in several researched regions. The objectives of empirical studies on the structure and nature of the audit expectation gap aim at recognising the actual existing and expected roles and responsibilities of auditors as well as identifying the factors, that contribute to the existence of the audit expectation gap in a society.The findings of international research on the audit expectation gap cannot directly be applied to a particular country without further investigation. Nor can they be applied in Hungary. This is because economic, social and legal factors of a specific country have a considerable impact on research results and might even distort them. Therefore, the objective of this research is to identify the causes and the typical composition of the audit expectation gap in Hungary in order to enable us to find appropriate combinations of solutions for narrowing the expectation gap.