Experience is fundamental to the attainment of the knowledge that enhances auditor
performance (see, for example, Ashton and Brown 1980). Research undertaken during the late
1980s found that industry-based experience enhanced auditor performance (Bonner and Lewis
1990; Bedard and Biggs 1991a). At the time, Big 8 firms were just beginning to harness the benefits
of industry-based experience by organizing their auditors into industry-specialist teams (Emerson
1993).