Abstract
This paper takes the contemporary audit expectations gap and seeks to establish its place in the commercial dynamics of late-Victorian England. The gap(s) in this paper relate to the views on audit-practice expectations as differentially articulated by the judiciary and audit practitioners. A paucity of codified guidelines on audit expectations either in statute or by the profession provided the ultimate imperative for consideration of expectations when the nascent profession was struggling to establish its place in the market. Through an extensive review of judicial decisions and the extant professional and academic literature, the paper demonstrates that a significant inconsistency of views existed on the bench and within the profession, causing a disjoint between the bench and the profession. As the nineteenth century drew to a close, it became clear to the profession that it needed to address the lack of guidance on expectations before judicial activism completed the task for them.
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