Abstract:
The Audit Expectation Gap (AEG) issues are steadily
expanding around the globe, irrespective of the
particular sector involved. A comparative analysis
will be more crucial for the AEG literature since the
significance of the expectation concerns stems from
the concepts of "stewardship and public
accountability", which are applicable to audits in both
private and public sectors. Thus, the purpose of this
study is to analyze the similarities and distinctions
between the AEG studies conducted pertaining to the
private and public sectors. This research is directed
by theoretical considerations and arrives at
conclusions based on the extant literature. An
exhaustive search of the published literature was
conducted by applying the search terms “expectation
gap” and “audit expectation gap” combined with
“public sector”, “government sector” and
“performance audit” in the Google Scholar search
engine and three databases of Scopus, Jstor, and
Emerald were performed separately and
independently for each sector from 1970 to 2022.
Thus, only the articles published in reputable journals
concerning the AEG were selected after applying
some selection criteria. It was found that the research
contexts, selected target populations, and the
dimensions applied to assess AEG were found to be
significantly different, despite the fact that the
definitions and statistical techniques used were found
to be comparable in both sectors. This comparison
study opens up a wealth of doors for conducting
further research in the future.
