yeah - I actually really like my job and generally always have, but I know I'm lucky. I have been a partner for a few years now, and you're right that the stress is different, and you're just at the low end of a whole new pyramid. Still, we make a really good living so I don't mind working 50-55 hours most weeks. That's not unpleasant and I have plenty of time for good vacations, etc.
I was on a plane yesterday and randomly was seated next to a former coworker who switched to Deloitte a couple of years ago. He said he seldom works less than 70 hours/week, and while I'm sure that's a little exaggerated, he looked like shit and was very run down - AND he didn't get promoted to partner in either of the years where it was promised. I felt bad for him.
BigLaw doesn't have the same pyramid scheme feel that BigAccounting does. In most law firms, you get paid based on your personal productivity - how many hours did YOU bill clients. So I think the "bragging" about their hours becomes ingrained early; if you're going to claim more partnership units, you need to be able to tout your personal contribution to the practice. Accounting is much more of an apprenticeship model. I sell projects and make sure that they're technically correct and that we have thought of everything, but my contribution is much more in making sure that my employees are all busy doing productive and profitable work. An accounting firm where the partners are obsessed about their personal billable hours is never going to grow.
Edited to add: that's not necessarily a bad thing - if you want to make a living owning a smaller firm and pass it on to someone when you retire, that model works great. Larger public accounting firms have to grow though, in order to create opportunities for good people to become partners. Otherwise they'll just leave. In the meantime, being an owner of a small firm, you definitely need to be billable.
