Investigation of Audit Expectation Gap in Indonesia

Abstract

Audit Expectation Gap has been a phenomenal issue among professional and academician due to affecting the professionalism of public accountant. Audit Expectation Gap is a gap between what society expects the auditors to achieve and what they can be reasonably expected to accomplished (Salehi and Rostami, 2009). There is a lack of study of audit expectation gap in Indonesia business environment, especially study using the dimensions of competency and reliability. Therefore, there is a desired need to do more research in this area. Moreover, this study try to investigate the Audit Expectation Gap among public accountants and accounting students in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Audit Expectation Gap are measured by five dimensions, that are responsibility, independency, credibility, reliability and competency. The sample of this research consists of 85 respondents which are 37 auditors and 48 accounting students in Padang. see whether any differences perception toward the above dimensions among public accountant and accounting students, the independent test sample test is used and the result reveals that perception of four dimensions significantly differs. They are independency, credibility, reliability and competency of auditor. However, there is no significantly different perception toward responsibility. Therefore, it can conclude that audit expectation gap still occur in Indonesia contexts. As consequence, the practioners and government agency should take the initiatives to minimilise the gap through socialization and accounting education.