Expectations gap in internal audit - a comparative study between the government and the private sector in the Saudi environment

The current research examines the existence of a gap in the internal audit expectations of the government and private sectors represented in the companies participating in the Saudi environment, and discussed the reasons for the existence of this gap and whether there are significant differences between the size of that gap between the government sector and the private sector, and then addressed some of the proposals that may help to reduce And minimize that gap.
In order to achieve this, a series of previous studies have been conducted that dealt with the expectations gap, which can be defined in general as the surplus demand from stakeholders for the functions and responsibilities of internal audit compared to the requirements of the relevant professional standards and what the internal auditor is actually doing.
The questionnaire was designed to achieve the objective of research and distribution of the questionnaire to the individuals under study in the government sector and the private sector.The results of the analysis of the questionnaire to confirm the existence of expectations gap in the field of internal audit, whether in the government sector or the private sector, and that there are significant differences between the size of that gap between the government sector And the private sector, where the size of that gap was greater in the government sector compared to the private sector, and may be due to the recent era of government agencies internal audit compared to the private sector. This requires the need to hold conferences and seminars from the professional and governmental bodies to define the internal audit and its essential role, and to give authority to the Saudi Society of Internal Auditors to impose the obligation of internal audit standards and related issuance, and to set the necessary conditions for the conduct of internal audit activity and the obligation of all shareholding companies at least the need to establish an audit department This will be reflected in the efficiency and effectiveness of the allocation and use of resources both in the government sector and in the private sector.