This study concerns the audit expectation gap in limited housing companies. Based on previous auditing literature and in-depth interviews of chairpersons we ask, how does audit expectation gap manifest itself in the perceptions and expectations of 1) auditing, 2) the performance of auditor, and 3) the need to develop auditing? Based on our data, almost all chairpersons were satisfied with auditing. Nevertheless, an audit expectation gap remained to some extent in the narratives. While chairpersons’ perceptions of auditing did not include anything outright inaudible, they were partially incomplete. Although deficiencies in auditors’ performance were hardly observed, difficulties in assessing the performance were more common. While the results do not imply the need to change the statutory audit regime, they suggest that in some cases the local practices should be developed. These results shed light on the audit expectation gap in the less explored context of Finnish companies and their chairpersons.
