AUDITING EXPECTATIONS GAP: CASE STUDY IN VIETNAM

Abstract

This article is designed to examine the existence of an audit expectation gap between the auditor and the user of the financial statements in terms of the auditor's responsibilities; the reliability of the audited financial statements; and the usefulness of post-audit information. By subject group T-Test with 186 observations from auditors and users of financial statements. The results of the study show that the users of financial statements believe that the auditor is responsible for the effectiveness of the internal control system, preventing and detecting fraudulent acts. At the same time, the users also expect the auditors to issue all warnings about possible risks to the business or be responsible if the auditing unit goes bankrupt. In particular, the research results also show that, when users rely on the results of the auditor's work to assess the ability of the audited unit to operate continuously, they have a lower level of trust than the auditors. The findings from the study are the basis for the author to make a number of recommendations to stakeholders to close the gap in audit expectations in Vietnam.