Stakeholders' Perception of Audit Performance Gap in Nigeria

The audit expectation gap is critical to the auditing profession because the greater the unfulfilled expectation from the public, the lower the credibility earning potential and prestige associated with the work of auditors.  The study examined the level and nature of expectation gap (performance gap) between auditors and users of financial statements.  It sought  to establish whether or not there are differences between users of financial statements and auditors’ perception of management responsibility for the preparation of financial statements, its reliability and decision usefulness.  Chi-square (c2) was used to analyze the data obtained from the study.  The data were obtained through questionnaire.  Two hundred and fifty (250) copies of the instrument  were distributed using purposive sampling technique.  In this study,  a cross-sectional survey was conducted to capture the perceptions of users of financial statements in Nigeria.  The tests of hypothesis were done using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 14.0.  Tests were carried out at a  significant level of 5% and four degree of freedom.  The  findings of this study indicated that there is a wide expectation gap in the areas of auditors responsibility for fraud prevention and detection.  There is no generally accepted description of the role of the auditor.  Audit  scandals had negative impact on auditor’s credibility.  We recommend that users of financial statements should be enlightened more on the responsibilities of auditors on the financial statements, the role of the auditor should be clarified and quality control measures should be observed in audit firms.Key words: Auditing, Audit Performance gap, Users of Financial Statements, perceptions