What are the darkest secrets of Big 4 companies?

Major part of my career has been with a big 4. So I don’t know how it is to work in other companies. But lets see:

1. They care a lot about their image. A lot. More than any other industry for sure.
2. I have found mistake in other people’s final report on a few occasions. Technical mistakes. I think all of us find mistakes in past reports all the time.
3. Managers rely a lot on junior team member’s work who are not experienced or lack knowledge. Managers like people who do not ask too many questions. In most occasions managers and partners get involved in the report stage to check the language and anything obviously wrong with the report.
4. Big 4 often bend its rules for big clients. And if times are bad, then also for smaller clients :)
5. Each big 4 uses other big 4’s research articles and reports all the time. But they will never mention it.
6. Most of the big 4 employees has no idea what they are doing. There is a template used for almost all type of work. So an outsider may think that the big 4 employees are doing such interesting work, the reality is that most of the employees are just following a fixed procedure which they can do in sleep.
7. The quality of big 4 work is better than any other tier 2 firm because there is a lot of focus on the language, grammar and overall neatness of the report. Also, there is a plethora of information available from across the globe.
8. The quality of work of American offices are the best.
9. The HR always makes fancy policies. However, the reality is different. One of my colleagues asked for unpaid leaves to take care of his father who was at the last stage of cancer. The request was denied. The other requested for unpaid leaves because she was suffering from anxiety issues and needed to take a break. Denied!
10. The unpaid leaves for any reason other than maternity will always be denied. Maternity leaves are mostly not denied because FEMINISM and read point 1.
11. It is really difficult to understand who is pulling the strings.
12. Big 4 cares a lot about diversity and inclusiveness because of its image. We have a full team to ensure that there is adequate diversity in each department. I have seen the number.
13. They respect women. I have never seen any body discriminating against women. That being said, there is a lot of discrimination against a new mom (only). People assume that new moms won’t be as focused.