Audit Expectation Gap among Finance Staff of Public Universities within Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana: Spellman’s Hydrostatic Pressure Modeling Approach

Abstract

Literature suggests though auditing is very instrumental in resource allocation functioning within economies across the globe, there is still dichotomy between what the users of audited financial statements (the public) do perceive auditor(s) and their duties and responsibilities to be as against what auditing regulatory frameworks promulgate. In this paper, we analyze the knowledge and awareness of 56 Finance Staff of Public Universities within Kumasi metropolis using Spellman’s Hydrostatic Pressure Model (SHPM). Our results suggest that large number of the finance Staff of the public universities are youthful with highly adequate professional and academic qualifications in auditing and accountancy coupled with fairly good number of working experiences in this field.     The present study proposed and validated the argument that adequate professional and academic knowledge and training in auditing and accountancy largely elucidate Audit Expectation Gap (AEG). Given that the model has explained that adequate professional and academic knowledge and training in auditing and accountancy largely elucidate AEG, it assures to be a valid model for predicting AEG and how to avoid it completely. The paper therefore concludes that, adequate training and education is the panacea for eliminating AEG’s ugly hairy heads among the public. This study thus fills scarcity of conceptual model in understanding the critical determinant(s) that influence AEG not only in Ghana, a developing country but also elsewhere. The limitations of this present study are noted, the implications to theory and accountancy in general have been conferred and recommendations for future research have also been suggested.

Keywords: Audit Expectation Gap, Finance staff of Public Universities, Kumasi Ghana