College of Business Administration
Dept. of Accounting and Information Systems

Instructor of Accounting

Fred has taught accounting and income tax courses on a part-time basis at Nicholls since 1984. He loves working with our students because he finds that they “want to know what the reality is about the theory that we help them understand.” Also, he says, “They ask really great questions.” He enjoys the fact that Nicholls has a wide diversity of students in the classrooms. His family worked in the oil industry so his experience has always been diverse as shown by having attended high school in five different states (Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Texas and Louisiana).

After being commissioned through LSU ROTC, he spent five years on active duty overseas with the U.S. Army. He remained in the Army Reserve and spent fifteen years teaching (part-time) for the Command and General Staff College, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. He returned to Louisiana and became a Certified Public Accountant in 1979 and received his M.B.A. from Nicholls in 1980. He is also a graduate of the University of Wisconsin School for Bank Administration.

His wife of 43 years, Margaret, is a retired Louisiana school teacher and an attorney who received her Juris Doctorate from Loyola in 1992. She currently has her own law practice and specializes in legal defense work for indigent clients and children in Louisiana. They raised three daughters and have resided in Thibodaux for over 30 years. “We were traveling through this area and fell in love with the people.”

Fred’s accounting experience includes work with many companies, government agencies and non-profit organizations as either an employee or a consultant. His career has included serving as the chief accountant and investigator for a U.S. Government agency investigating fraud in Southeast Asia. He has also designed and implemented various accounting and tax systems for businesses and government agencies both at the Federal and State levels. Fred additionally has experience in almost all levels of Federal Income Tax work, including audits, and appellate and trial work before the United States Tax Court. He has been recognized as an Expert Witness in income tax matters.

His community work includes four years spent as President and Chairman of the Board of a non-profit organization that coordinated the work of over 20 civic organizations to secure funding and assistance from individuals, various local government agencies and the Louisiana Governor’s office. This work culminated in the opening of the first family violence shelter for battered and abused women and children in this local area. He is very proud of the fact that “we started an organization with one mission—to help people when they need massive and immediate help. When we accomplished our goal (opening the shelter), we gave the results of our efforts to three organizations that are still doing great work today.” Fred is also a member of the Salvation Army Advisory Board for Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes (since 1994). He currently serves as a Lector and Lay Eucharistic Minister at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Thibodaux.

In his spare time, Fred enjoys traveling with his wife (both in their RV and overseas), and reading, especially history. He is a proud grandfather of four children.

Courses taught: ACCT 205 – Introduction to Financial Accounting, ACCT 206 – Introduction to Managerial Accounting, ACCT 407 – Individual Income Tax Accounting

Contact information: 308A Powell Hall Phone: 985-448-7072 Email: fred.sollars@nicholls.edu