Abstract:
The study examined the status and impact of audit education on the audit
expectation gap, as existence of such a gap is noted to be harmful to the
accounting and auditing profession. Accordingly, undergraduates of a
regional national university in Sri Lanka (in three categories as:
undergraduates who had not followed an auditing course, who had followed
a basic auditing course, and who had followed an advanced auditing
course) and professional auditors were selected and a questionnaire survey
that included statements on the duties of the auditors was administered. The
results of the independent sample t-test indicate the existence of an audit
expectation gap in the Sri Lankan context; and that audit education had an
effect in reducing such a gap. However, further analysis indicated that only
an advanced auditing course had resulted in minimizing such expectation
gap (particularly in reducing the unreasonable expectation gap) compared
to who had followed a basic auditing course. These findings are expected to
have significant educational policy implications.
Keywords
Audit Education, Audit Expectation Gap, Professional Auditors,
Undergraduates
