What is an audit expectation gap?

Answer 1

Expectations gap === The expectation gap is the gap between the auditors' actual standard of performance and the various public expectations of auditors' performance (as opposed to their required standard of performance). Many members of the public expect that:

• auditors should accept prime responsibility for the financial statements,
• auditors 'certify’ financial statements,
• a 'clean’ opinion guarantees the accuracy of financial statements,
• auditors perform a 100% check,
• auditors should give early warning about the possibility of business failure, and
• auditors are supposed to detect fraud (See Wisconsin Law Journal article entitled, "Why Didn't Our Auditors Find the Fraud?").

Such public expectations of auditors, which go beyond the actual standard of performance by auditors, have led to the term 'expectation gap’. Above retrieved from Abrema http://www.abrema.net/abrema/expect_gap_g.html Viper1

Answer 2

Expectations gap === The expectation gap is the gap between the auditors' actual standard of performance and the various public expectations of auditors' performance (as opposed to their required standard of performance). Many members of the public expect that:

• auditors should accept prime responsibility for the financial statements,
• auditors 'certify