Prior research on auditor industry specialization documents fee premiums for local audit offices that are industry specialists. This research assumes that the effects of specialization are uniform across markets. We examine industry specialization based on the economic theory of industry agglomeration (geographic areas with high industry concentration). Agglomeration economies can facilitate access to knowledge for auditors serving a specific industry in those locations. We find that industry specialists in agglomerations earn a fee premium in excess of specialists in other markets. We find that nonspecialist offices in agglomerations also earn fee premiums in that industry when compared to nonspecialists in other markets even when controlling for these groups’ absolute share of the national market. We also address whether or not this expertise can be shared among offices in an agglomeration specialist's firm. We find that audit offices that have easy connections to a within-firm office in an agglomerated market can earn a fee premium relative to more distant offices, suggesting a benefit from knowledge transfer. This fee premium accrues to offices that would not be considered a specialist using traditional market share measures in a given industry. These findings indicate that the benefit of industry specialization depends on more than local market share.

中文翻译：

---

客户行业集聚对审计行业专业化的影响

先前对审计行业专业化的研究记录了作为行业专家的当地审计办公室的费用溢价。这项研究假设专业化的影响在不同市场上是一致的。我们根据产业集聚（产业集中度高的地理区域）的经济理论来考察产业专业化。集聚经济可以促进为这些地区的特定行业服务的审计师获取知识。我们发现，集群中的行业专家比其他市场的专家赚取更高的费用。我们发现，即使在控制这些团体在全国市场的绝对份额的情况下，与其他市场的非专业办事处相比，聚集区的非专业办事处也能在该行业赚取费用溢价。我们还讨论了这种专业知识是否可以在聚集专家公司的办事处之间共享。我们发现，在集聚市场中，与公司内部办事处有便捷联系的审计办事处相对于距离较远的办事处而言可以赚取更高的费用，这表明可以从知识转移中受益。该费用溢价适用于在特定行业中使用传统市场份额衡量标准不被视为专家的办事处。这些发现表明，行业专业化的好处不仅仅取决于当地市场份额。