The work-life balance is not present for the A&A and consulting employees. An employee is expected to work weekends and weeknights, regardless of busy season. I had a Director call me on PTO to address a client request that day.
Most Directors and Managers have a "golden child(s)" and treat everyone else differently. if you are not part of golden child group, they will lie to your face or "spin" your situation to how it suits Management. At the Director level, it's about managing the "book of business", not training your employees for the next level to be a Manager or Director.
If you are not good at social communication or "playing the game", then you will be ousted very quickly because there are many internal cliques. I have a mental health disorder which limited my functioning with social interactions, so I didn't relate to any co-worker or supervisor very well. I tried to compensate by "knowing my craft" very well (sometimes better than the Directors) and not rely on "who you know". That didn't work out.
Technology is outdated. There is too much reliance on old processes to create work papers. It takes more time to complete a work paper than the actual work.