Mind the Gap : A study of the student-audit expectation gap and factors affecting it

Abstract: This study explore the expectation gap between students and audit practitioners, and if certain factors have any significant impact on the students conformity to the practitioners expectations. The study is limited to business students and audit practitioners. We used an Independent Sam-ples T-Test and Pearson Correlation Analysis to conduct the analysis of 286 student responses and 98 practitioner responses. The results confirm previous research; the expectation gap exists. The findings concerning the relationship between factors and students conformity were some-what inconsistent. However, we found a statistically significant proof that students with work-life, trainee and internship experiences conformed better to audit practitioners. Our study offers further insight to the subject of the expectation gap by suggesting that some factors, such as internship experiences, can improve students’ conformity to audit practitioners regarding the importance of skills.