We ex tend thi s lit er a tu re by compar i n g the earnin gs q u a lity of client s of indu str y speci ali st a nd non specia list auditors. Ea rn i n gs qualit y i s a con cept th a t d oes not have a comm on defi niti on in th e literature. Rather , th e extan t litera ture u ses va r iou s m easu res to capture different m ani festati on s of qualit y of ea rnings . Fo ll ow i ng this liter a t u re, w e ex amin e th e effect of auditor specia li za ti on on: ( l ) the absolute level of di scretionary accru a l s (DAC) and (2) earnings response coeffici ent s (ERC). W e expect th at , i f audit or s' i nd u str y speci a li za t ion result s i n grea ter audit qu a lity, industry spec ializati on would be negati vel y associa t ed w ith clien ts' DA C a nd positi vely a ssociated w ith client s' ERC. W e restri ct our stud y to clien ts of Bi g 6 (and later Bi g 5) auditors to control for br a nd nam e.