Posted on October 23, 2024 by Wendy Frost
If you listen to alumna Nancy Ehrlich Ozuna, ’93, MPA ’95, she’ll tell you her path to a career in a top public accounting firm isn’t typical for students today. She completed her bachelor’s in accounting, passed the CPA exam and then earned her master’s in accounting, all without ever working in the field.
Nancy Ehrlich Ozuna
“I put all my eggs in one basket,” said Ozuna, audit partner at Forvis Mazars, LLP. “It happened to work, but not what I’d advise anyone to do. There are so many internship opportunities for accounting students.”
Yet, almost 30 years later she has built a distinguished career at one of the top 10 public accounting firms in the nation. Ozuna never envisioned the life that she has today while growing up as one of five girls on the west side of San Antonio. Raised by a single mother after her father died while she was young, her mother encouraged her to pursue her education.
“My mother knew that education was the key to my future,” said Ozuna, a first-generation college student. “Statistically speaking I shouldn’t be where I am today. I credit everything to my mother, the education that I received at UTSA and my mentors.”
While technically Ozuna has spent her career at one firm, she has seen many changes over the years. Beginning her career at Hanke Green and Stein, the firm merged to become BKD, LLP then Forvis, LLP and most recently Forvis Mazars, LLP.
Currently Ozuna serves a dual role as an assurance partner in the Austin-San Antonio practice unit. She has also been designated as the Employee Benefit Plan financial reporting partner in their professional standards group.
“In my wildest dreams I never would have imagined I’d be working for a top public accounting firm,” said Ozuna. “I’ve had an amazing career, and it is constantly fulfilling.”
When people envision accountants, they see someone sitting behind a desk crunching numbers. Ozuna shares that the profession is so much more than that. “At this level much of my day is spent communicating. Thank goodness it was a career that was so much more. There are numbers, but that is not the entirety of my day. Sometimes it is not my day at all.”
Working in audit Ozuna specializes in the areas of employee benefit plans and construction and real estate. Relishing being a part of a team and working with clients, she enjoys the variety of her work as well as continuing to be challenged by it.
“The creation of Sarbanes-Oxley and everything that came with it affected the profession a lot,” she said. “Audit came under scrutiny, and there were a lot of new regulations.” Ozuna has also seen how technology has shifted the way accountants work. Starting with a DOS-based computer and pen and paper, she has witnessed the transition to audits being conducted electronically and now the infusion of artificial intelligence into the profession.
“Auditing is sampling,” she said. “We’ve seen a heightened sense that technology can allow us to look at more. I think that due to the smaller pool of accountants coming out of school, we’ll need to look at ways technology can be used to do those things that aren’t high risk and use that knowledge power from humans to do higher-end thinking.”
Reflecting on her career, Ozuna is grateful that she has been able to work with amazing co-workers, great clients and have the flexibility that allowed her to not only excel at work, but also flourish in her personal life.
“We like to think that we hire the best and the brightest. To have a whole firm of individuals like that is not often replicated in other industries. “I tell our new associates that audit is sometimes thought of like a necessary evil. But what makes the work exciting is that we get to help our clients build their businesses. Our audits facilitate the clients being able to secure loans, find investors and provide compliance to regulators,” she said.
Benefiting from that work-life balance, Ozuna and her husband, Andrew, ’91, raised three kids, and she overachieved again as a parent by being an active participant in their lives and taking on leadership roles such as PTA president and treasurer of the band.
“I was allowed so much flexibility to work the way I needed to work during the different periods of my kids’ lives.” Ozuna sees that as vital in getting more women to achieve leadership roles in the profession. While women make up almost 60% of accountants, the percentage of female partners in accounting firms is 39%.
Recognizing the need to give back to her alma mater to help other accounting students thrive, she has volunteered her time to help advance UTSA and the Carlos Alvarez College of Business. She is a member of the UTSA Development Board, the Dean’s Advisory Council and the college’s Accounting Advisory Board. She also served as a member of the UTSA Alumni Association Board from 2014-2019. She and Andrew were named UTSA Alumni of the Year in 2023.
As a student, Ozuna was president of Beta Alpha Psi and built strong connections with faculty members like the late Russell Briner. Forging friendships and developing peer networks within her student organizations, she still maintains connections with many of those individuals today.
“UTSA is how I got this job,” she said. “Everything leads back to that point in time. If I hadn’t had really great professors who encouraged me to get involved, and who knew me well enough to recommend me to my firm’s managing partner, Jack Stein, who took a chance on me and was my mentor and advocate throughout my career, this wouldn’t be possible.”
Watching UTSA transition from a commuter school to one that is now vibrant and well respected, Ozuna feels that she has grown along with UTSA as part of that journey. “We were born and raised here in San Antonio, and I feel that UTSA is the school for this community,” she said. “We were privileged to build our foundation here at UTSA. As much as we can, we’ll continue to give back at any level and share what UTSA has done for us.”
— Wendy Frost
