Taking Accounting Advocacy to New Heights

Brigid D Souza, CPA, MBA, fits the very definition of an accounting trailblazer. From working in Big Four accounting firms to creating the Civic Parent blog, from being a tenured assistant professor at Saint Peter s University in Jersey City to helping create an innovative work-for-credit accounting program, Brigid has more than a few accomplishments to be proud of. She also recently became the founder and owner of D Souza CPA, LLC.

Advocating for the accounting profession and teaching others to self-advocate have always been top of mind for Brigid as a CPA, professor and member of the Jersey City community where she is married to Devanjn and is mom to daughter, Indira, age 14, and son, Arjun, age 13. In 2013, when she was at home with her children and wanted to use her CPA skills to "enhance local community civics," she started her Civic Parent blog (civicparent.org). Specifically, that meant helping the Jersey City community understand where property tax dollars go and how it impacts school funding experiences she later shared with her students at Saint Peter's.

Brigid also shared her love for technology with her students. "I really enjoy the technology piece in concert with the accounting," she maintains, explaining how she taught herself Excel. Brigid worked in a technology data consulting group at Deloitte, which she notes was a "great training ground and where she gained a love for "teaching" due to their encourage ment to help junior staff.

While teaching accounting at Saint Peter's, she regularly heard from students that they wanted to obtain their CPA license, start a business and give back to their communities. However, the students often struggled with financial challenges in obtaining the necessary credits to go along with that plan. Attuned to these struggles, Brigid helped initiate the school s work-for-credit program with PwC where graduates can earn educational credits toward CPA licensure through full-time work.

Branching Out

Looking to help a broader part of her community and others in need of accounting advisory services, Brigid formed her own company in 2024, initially focusing on the accounting needs of small businesses and local parishes, but she is also looking to expand. The parishes all fall into the nonprofit category, which she describes as a "space with a lot of need." "I'm very keen to serve clients with very efficient system atized processes that I create," she shared.

Adjusting to being a business owner has been a smooth transition. "I don't look at any position as a final stop. I've done these transformations enough to know how important it is for retooling, growing and seeing what's possible," she said. "In each phase of my career, I have carried the tools I've learned to the next phase and continued to rebuild."

"I want to have a purpose-driven practice where I can give back. That's very important," adds Brigid, who credits the work she's been doing with the NJCPA, small businesses and social workers as influencing her to go out on her own. It's a local community focus but it s a virtual practice. It's about helping people understand their own business."

Even after starting her own firm, she remains connected to Saint Peter's, its students and the larger community. Her roots in helping Jesuit colleges like Saint Peter's run deep as she was a member of the Jesuit Volunteer Corp in college at Rutgers.

Early Influences

Her journey to become a CPA started mainly in graduate school studying for her MBA at The George Washington University in D.C. At that time, an accounting professor convinced her to switch her major from healthcare administration to accounting. She always loved math, however, with fond memories of solving for "x" in middle school math classes. It's also a big reason why she advocates for telling students as young as middle schoolers about the profession today.