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To ascertain the purpose and value of audit in the public-sector corporations, this study was done to explore the needs and perception of audit value likewise to analyse the perception of stakeholders like auditees and the society on the value of the audit conducted by the external auditors in Liberia. A qualitative method was used to collect and analyse the empirical data used in this study. The findings of this study have proven that the need of audit in the public-sector corporations is for accountability and transparency but mainly for legitimacy as government must work along with other stakeholders like public entities to respond to the needs of its citizen. Furthermore, this studying has proven that, indeed audit can add value in the public sectors. In Liberia, the audit conducted by GAC is of great value to all stakeholder as auditors are identifying and reporting on the exact performance of the resource allocation and program implemented in the public corporations.

Audit delay refers to the time from the end of the country or company’s financial year to the date of the audit report. The chances of delay of audit in the public sector are pervasive and as such the expectations of users of these audit reports may differ which could result in the quality and reliability of these audits within this sector to be questioned. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to explore the external and internal factors that cause audit delay and the aftermath they have on public sector audit quality. As for this study, its original value correlates with the espousal of the institutional theory from the perspective of public sector auditing. Considering the aim of this study, a qualitative research was preferred with the objective of gathering in-depth and enriched empirical data; hence, semi structured interviews were conducted with ten auditors of the top and middle management of the Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) of Liberia – General Auditing Commission. There are varying views regarding the findings of this study as the respondents disclose that the external factors that result to audit delays are caused by either the audited entity or other external parties and not the SAI; however, it is the responsibility of the SAI to work with the entity involved to ensure those factors do not impede the audit process to the extent it cannot be completed; whereas, internal factors which includes inadequate staff training, delay in the review and approval of the draft audit report by top management to the poor performance of auditors as a result of lack of knowledge and etcetera cause audit delays as well and the SAI is solely responsible for ensuring that they are resolved or lessened so as not to affect the timeliness of the reporting process. The study mentions several limitations. One of them is the lack of observation being conducted which would have provided first-hand information on factors that cause the delay of audits in the public sector.

Background and Problem: The audit expectation gap is an interesting phenomenon whereseveral academics and researchers have studied this subject in the audit environment. However,in relation to the research conducted on the audit expectation gap in the private sector, a lack ofresearch exists on the audit expectation gap in the public sector. The importance ofunderstanding and realising the audit expectation gap in the public sector relies on the threatthe gap has on the legitimacy and trust of the national audit offices and public auditors. Purpose: This research study aims to explore the audit expectation gap in the public sector.The study seeks to investigate what manifests the audit expectation gap between the SwedishNational Audit Office and the society of Sweden. In addition, the study aims to moreoverunderstand the reasons for making the audit expectation gap emerge. Method: The study includes two different research methods aimed to explore the differentperceptions of the public auditors and the society concerning the roles and responsibilities ofpublic state auditors. Semi-structured interviews with auditors from the Swedish National AuditOffice were conducted to comprehend their perception of public auditors. In comparison,content analysis on a published news article of the Swedish National Audit Office was observedto comprehend the Swedish society’s perceptions of public auditors. The two research methodswere then analysed and compared to explore if an audit expectation gap exists between thedifferent perceptions. Findings: The findings provide an understanding of different contributors causing an auditexpectation gap to emerge between the Swedish National Audit Office and Swedish society.The findings suggest that the audit expectation gap can be a consequence of the public lack ofknowledge in the office, poor performance or failure to adhere to core ethical principles byeither the individual auditor or office or the efficiency of the standard and its sufficiency toprovide with high-quality auditing. When such situations or circumstances emerge, the findingsindicate that an audit expectation gap is manifested between the Swedish National Audit Officeand the Swedish society.

The aspect of the audit expectation gap continues to be an issue and detrimental to the auditing profession especially as auditors and the public continues to hold different beliefs about the auditors’ duties and responsibilities, and the messages conveyed by audit reports. This phenomenon has long been investigated in several Western and Asian countries with numerous studies that empirically confirmed the existence of this phenomenon between auditors and non-auditors (audit stakeholders). However, it appears paradoxical that only few studies have been conducted empirically in establishing the existence of this gap, in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially in the public sector. Meaning, there is a dearth of research regarding an AEG in the public sector. Besides, regarding The Gambia, it appears that no study has ever been conducted to establish the existence of an AEG.  Hence, this thesis aims to investigate the existence of AEG in The Gambia public sector from the viewpoints of public auditors and non-auditing professionals to establish the existence and nature of the audit expectations gap and how this phenomenon can be bridged to uphold the credibility of the auditing profession. A purposive sampling was used to select 13 participants with a structured interview data collection approach. The results of the study shows that the non-auditing professionals perceived ‘detection and prevention of fraud and corruption’, and ‘assurance on the effectiveness of internal controls’ to include auditors’ roles and responsibilities, and faithfully expect them to perform these tasks; and also associate absolute assurance to audit opinions, thus resulting in naive or an unreasonable expectations gap.