Pros
My supervisor is understanding if we have life events that affect work. They pay for your lunches and dinners during the busy season of tax if you work 10+ hours in a day. They pay for events throughout the year, such as an After Tax Season Party, a summer party, and a winter party with other minor events like Happy Hours. The coworkers are friendly and some will go out of their way to help you even if it's not their job responsibility. It's a job -- it's not perfect but out of all of the positions I have had this is not the worse and the majority of people are understanding if there are life issues or events that conflict with work. I don't feel like I would be penalized for taking time off.
Cons
Not very good work-life balance at times. It depends on the higher up but the majority of them have the expectation of if there's any type of work we need to stay as late as it takes to complete it. They hold this standard for everyone in the office whether you are preparing a tax return or not. As an administrative assistant, you can be helping numerous directors without additional support, and when you request additional support it is not always met. Everyone is super stressed during the busy season so you don't always see the best side of people. The biggest project for administrative assistants is engagement letters and each year it seems to be getting worse because they are trying to have you do clean-ups for automation with minimal time to work on it and they keep investing in programs that will "help us" but only cause delays instead. Numerous programs to do one task create confusion for everyone (clients & employees). The amount of overtime for admin assistants is just as crazy as the Tax Associates.