When Everything Becomes Homeless, It Finds Its Way to the CFO’s Table

There is a peculiar truth I have observed through four decades of work — from my early days in the bustling, curfew-prone lanes of Aligarh to the reconstruction-phase boardrooms of Baghdad, and later in the gleaming, marble-floored banks of the Middle East: Every problem that has no home eventually lands on the CFO’s table. Like a wandering traveler seeking shelter, unresolved issues somehow gravitate toward Finance.

But why does this happen? And what does it reveal about the transformation of leadership today? To answer that, let me take you back to a few moments that shaped my understanding.

The Aligarh Lesson: When Uncertainty Becomes the Teacher

My first posting at Punjab National Bank in the mid-80s was not exactly the picture of a corporate office. Aligarh back then had its own rhythm — frequent curfews, sudden shutdowns, and an ever-present undercurrent of tension. We kept a month’s worth of provisions stored in the branch, not because we loved hoarding, but because we never knew when we would be able to step out again.

One afternoon, in the middle of a curfew, a stack of unresolved forex cases landed on my table — cases that had nothing to do with my formal role. Various departments had touched them, pushed them, questioned them, but finally, when the dust settled, they arrived neatly bundled… on my desk.

I asked my senior why every department’s “miscellaneous” work was being redirected to me.

He smiled and said, “Finance has the full picture. When no one knows who to ask, they ask you.”

Back then, I didn’t realize it. Today, I see the pattern everywhere.

Iraq: Where Transformation Needed a Compass, Not a Department

Fast forward two decades. Baghdad. Post-conflict reconstruction. Trade Bank of Iraq was young, ambitious, and determined to rebuild the nation’s financial arteries.

When we began implementing core banking transformation, we thought the challenges would be purely technical. We were wrong.

Suddenly, issues that belonged everywhere — and nowhere — began surfacing:

• Data gaps from legacy systems
• Manual treasury processes dating back decades
• Compliance mismatches
• A reconciliation backlog that stretched like the Tigris
• Training gaps
• Process inconsistencies
• Communication breakdowns between departments

Everyone touched the problem, but no one owned it.

And once again, they landed on the CFO’s table — in this case, the transformation office that Finance anchored.

You don’t navigate Iraq’s transformation by following manuals. You navigate by understanding systems, people, culture, fear, ambition, hope — all at once.
Finance was the only department with the vantage point to integrate all these dimensions.

This was when I realized:

The CFO isn’t the custodian of accounts.
The CFO is the custodian of coherence.

The Middle East: Modern Floors, Ancient Truths

Years later, while consulting across the Gulf, I saw the same story unfold — only this time in shining, technologically advanced banks:

AI dashboards, cloud migrations, cybersecurity audits, IFRS transformations, sustainability reporting, digital onboarding, open banking integrations — everything that crossed functional borders somehow drifted toward Finance.

Colleagues would joke:

“If it’s homeless by Thursday, it will be on the CFO’s table by Sunday.”

But underneath the humor was a deeper truth:

• HR analytics needed cost insights
• Cloud migration needed capital discipline
• ESG reporting needed audit-grade accuracy
• Cyber resilience needed enterprise-wide risk assessment
• ERP modernization needed cross-functional alignment
• Data governance needed a single source of truth

Who else but Finance had the authority, visibility, objectivity, and discipline to hold the threads together?

So Why Does Everything “Homeless” Land With the CFO?

Because the CFO has what no one else does:

1. A 360° View of the Business

Finance is the only place where customer impact meets cost, where innovation meets risk, where ambition meets feasibility.

2. The Ability to See Patterns Across Silos

From India’s public-sector banks to Iraq’s transforming institutions, I’ve seen how Finance quietly absorbs everyone else’s blind spots.

3. Responsibility Without Borders

If a problem involves data, systems, people, money, risk, or compliance — it becomes a Finance problem by default.

4. A Mindset Built on Rigor and Accountability

Finance leaders cannot afford wishful thinking.
They must deal in truth.

And organizations instinctively trust those who deal in truth.

But Here’s the Catch: The Role Has Outgrown Its Origins

Being the “catch-all” only works when Finance evolves from being a recorder of history to a shaper of destiny.

Modern CFOs no longer ask:
“What happened?”
They ask:
“What must happen next?”

This shift requires:

• Technology fluency
• Data literacy
• Storytelling ability
• Empathy
• Change leadership
• Strategic clarity
• A calm mind in a noisy world

These are not accounting skills. They are human skills.

The Essence: Leadership Isn’t About Control — It’s About Connection

What Aligarh, Baghdad, and the Gulf taught me is this:

People don’t bring their toughest problems to the CFO because Finance controls the budget. They bring them because Finance connects the business.

It is the only function that understands how the pieces fit together — and how they fall apart.

And perhaps this is why the CFO’s table has become the true nerve center of modern organizations.

Not because Finance demanded it. But because Finance earned it.

A Final Thought

In every transformation I’ve witnessed — whether navigating geopolitical uncertainty, modernizing decades-old systems, or aligning global teams — one truth has remained constant:

Leadership today belongs to those who can integrate, not isolate.
To those who can listen, not merely instruct.
To those who can convert complexity into clarity.

And that’s why everything without a home finally lands on the CFO’s table.
Because Finance, at its best, is the quiet architect of coherence —
and coherence is the foundation on which transformation is built.