Evidence of Non-Big 6 Market Specialization and Pricing Power in a Niche Assurance Service Market.

Cullian's (1998) argument proposes that specialization can provide competitive advantages to smaller firms. This assumption raises interesting questions, the most important of which is — under what circumstances or conditions could a smaller firm with fewer resources obtain a higher fee than a larger firm with greater resources? A logical extension of this argument indicates significant potential changes in the public accounting profession. One change to be considered would be the industry's valuepricing model which may be at odds with the established value-pricing model of most other markets. Should the public accounting industry rectify its value-pricing model to conform to established models in other industries? Those firms that make the required adjustments first will be rewarded with very significant profit and expansion opportunities. The key is to be one of the first.