Communication efffectiveness of expanded audit report.

Abstract

This study serves to determine the communication effectiveness of the expanded audit report proposed by Institute of Certified Public Accountants ofSingapore (ICPAS).

Recently, developed countries like the United Kingdom and Australia have switched to a new expanded audit report after the United States took the lead in 1987, in the hope of narrowing the expectation gap. ICPAS in its recent exposure draft, Singapore Standards on Auditing 13 (SSA 13), has also proposed the switch to an expanded audit report format.

Accounting undergraduates (in Singapore) and non-accounting undergraduates (in Singapore and Australia) were randomly selected to test their understanding on the audit terminology, the roles and duties of the auditor and management, the nature of an audit, and the audit process after reading the expanded audit report. Independent t-tests were used to make comparison to determine whether there was significant differences in their level of understanding.

Our statistical results indicated that an expectation gap persists even with the use ofthe expanded audit report. As such, we recommend public education about the audit profession and the technical terms used in the report and an improvement on its presentation to enhance the readers’ understanding.