Charles Osei-Assibey
Takoradi Technical University (TTU)
Email: coassibeyhl@gmail.com
Abstract
Globally, the public perceive auditors to play certain roles in the financial reporting process. However, most of these perceptions have been different from the actual roles for which auditors are mandated to play. This has created an expectation gap between what the duties of auditors are and what the public expect of auditors. This research therefore sought to examine the perception of the public on audit expectation gap in the Sekondi Takoradi Metropolis. Descriptive research design was used. A sample size of 210 respondents was randomly sampled from the population. Data were collected using questionnaire. Data was processed using Statistical Package for Service Solutions (SPSS) version 22.0. Results were analysed using frequencies, tables and charts and correlation analysis was done to establish the relationship between audit expectation gap and perception of the public. The results showed that majority of the public perceive auditors’ role to include detection of errors and fraud and disclose illegalities and irregularities in a company’s financial statement. The results also showed that majority of respondents perceive the quality of audit reports nowadays to be questionable and others also perceive auditors’ report only to please management. It was also showed that factors such as society’s failure to understand the duties and roles of auditors and society’s unreasonable expectations of auditors affected audit expectation gap. There was however a strong positive correlation between auditors’ responsibility in detection of error and fraud and audit expectation gap. It is recommended that the roles and duties of auditors should be clearly defined through education for society to have a clear understanding of the roles of external auditors.
Keywords: Public Perception, Audit Expectation Gap, Auditor Perception, Public Financial Administration, External Auditors Duties and Roles
