Purpose –This paper aims to assess the relationship between an audit report tone and the audit expectation gap. Design/Methodology/Approach– The procedure of the study is descriptive-correlation based on information released from listed firms on the Tehran Stock Exchange during 2013- 2019 using a sample of 128 firms (816 observations). The method used for hypothesis testing is linear regression using panel data. Findings –The results testing show a negative and significant relationship between audit report tone and audit expectation gap. Originality/value – Since the present study was carried out in an emergent financial market, like Iran, with a highly competitive audit market to figure out the relationship between audit report tone and audit expectation gap, it can provide helpful information in this field the readers.

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