Causes a Gap Between the Expectations of Auditors and Users of Audit Reports

Abstract

The present paper aims to study the expectation gap between the auditors and the users of financial information with regard to the financial reports assurance, decision-making profitability based on the audited financial information, and responsibility for such information. Expectation gap between the auditors and the users of financial reports is a factor, which results in the ambiguity in the auditors’ role and users’ perception of it. In this context, meticulous and viable research must be conducted so that this expectation gap can be reduced and removed. This necessity has provided a foundation for the implementation of the present study. In this view, the following assumptions are taken into account. A significant difference exists between the expectation of the users and that of the auditors in terms of auditing responsibility, assurance, and decisionmaking profitability. For analysis of the data and test of the assumptions, preliminary data have been collected using some questionnaire and research variables have thus been calculated. In the present study, with regard to the proposed assumptions, the t test with two independent samples has been applied. Statistical test results indicate the justification of the three above relations in the proposed assumptions in the present study. It is recommended that our findings should be applied by the specialists and researchers for elimination of such expectation gap.