AUDITOR BRAND-NAME REPUTATIONS AND INDUSTRY SPECIALIZATIONS

The development of both brand name reputation and industry specializat ion by Big 8 auditors is argued to be costly and therefore to increase audit fees. For a sample of 1484 Australian publicly listed companies we estimate audit fee premia for Big 8 auditors. On average, industry specialist Big 8 auditors earn a 34% premium over nonspecialist Big 8 auditors, and the Big 8 brand name premium over non-Big 8 auditors av erages around 30%. These results support that industry expertise is a dimension of the demand for higher quality Big 8 audits and a basis fo r within Big 8 product differentiation.