The Factors Affecting in Narrowing the Audit Expectations Gap from the Viewpoint of the Investors in Jordan

Abstract

This study aims to identify the nature of the audit expectations gap and analyzing the factors that may affect in narrowing the audit expectations gap from the viewpoint of the investors in Jordan, and then make the recommendations to constrict such a gap through measuring and analyzing the factors that influence the gap. A questionnaire has been developed to achieve the objectives of this study. The questionnaire included (34) questions, distributed to 60 investors in stock market, who are the sample of study. 57 responded questionnaires were collected. All had been analyzed; one sample t-test and test of (ANOVA) were used to test the hypotheses of the study. The study concluded a set of results, including: the factors that influence audit expectations gap, which are: the efficiency of the auditor and his professional care, the auditor’s responsibility for the certified accounting numbers, the verification of the auditor on the level of the disclosure in the financial statement, improvement of communication with the users of the financial statements, the auditor's commitment to integrity and honesty, and the independence of the Auditors. It was found that the effect of these factors was high and uneven. Finally, the study proposed several recommendations, most important: the necessity to enhance communication, information and the education of the users of the financial statements on the functions of auditing, responsibilities and duties of the auditor, management responsibilities, and the expansion of the auditors responsibilities to meet the reasonable expectations, and to adopt the detailed auditor’s report to mitigate the audit expectations gap.

Key words: audit expectations gap, performance gap, ignorance gap, reasonable expectations,  unreasonable expectations.