Improving the Content of Auditor's Report as a Means of Fathom to Audit Expectation Gap in Nigeria

Audit expectation gap is a phenomenon that presently attracts the attention of researchers all over the world. The basic problem is in the area of how the public perceives the role of the auditor, which in most cases centers on the prevention of fraud and irregularities. On the other hand the auditor and the auditing profession always exonerate themselves from the fact and perception of the public towards their work. However, the continued litigation against the auditor and the auditing profession has called on a rethink on the relationship of the auditor and the audit work he performs. This research therefore reviews the communication of the auditor to the public in form of the content of the auditor's report to the public as the possible means of reducing if not eliminating the problem of the audit expectation gap. To achieve this, the study develops questionnaire based on the method used in the literature. The process ensures that data is collected for the public's expectation on the issues of the expectation gap on the one hand, and then subsequently and side by side, we compare the issues with the auditors expected perception. The data collected was analyzed using a five-point likert type scale anchored by a five scale from “strongly disagrees” to “strongly agree”. Furthermore, to test for the significant difference in the audit expectation gap between the two parties of respondents both the parametric and non parametric statistical tests were used. In terms of the distribution of the questionnaire we used both the mailing approach and direct approach. The study presented the outcome of the research to show that there is expectation gap in the country as evidenced in the views of the respondents. Furthermore, improvement of the reports of the auditor has been recommended as a means of improving and or solving the problem of audit expectation gap in Nigeria