“Stories and lessons from an unexpected journey in finance.”

People sometimes assume CFOs sit in dark rooms, quietly communing with spreadsheets like monks with candles. And while I’ve had my fair share of late nights with Excel (and the occasional prayer), here’s the truth: finance isn’t just numbers. It’s life. Messy, human, and sometimes pretty funny.

Here’s the reality: finance is less like math class and more like family life.

Take my grocery shopping routine. On paper, it’s simple: I make a list, I budget, I calculate what we need. Yet somehow, I come home with things that were 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘭. Ice cream, fancy cheese, a magazine I’ll never read.

In finance, this is called “variance.” At home, it’s called “Saturday.”

And just like in business, those variances tell a bigger story. The numbers show I spent more than planned. But the why is what matters—someone in the house wanted comfort food, or I was tired, or maybe I just couldn’t walk past the Ben & Jerry’s freezer without caving.

I’ve seen the same thing in companies:
💡 A forecast missed because sales pushed deals into the next quarter.
💡 A budget overrun because product development couldn’t cut that “one last feature.”
💡 A “perfect” M&A model that forgot people don’t merge as neatly as Excel tabs.

Here’s the punchline: numbers are never the full story. They’re the receipts, not the reasons. Finance is really about people—their choices, their fears, their aspirations, and yes, sometimes their ice cream.

But here’s the other side of the coin: variances can’t just be shrugged off. In business, unlike my Saturday grocery run, they have to be managed, understood, and corrected. Otherwise, they compound. A little overspend becomes a pattern. A missed forecast turns into missed credibility.

That’s the art of finance leadership: balance. You acknowledge the human story behind the numbers and you hold the line on accountability. You listen first, then act to realign. You understand why the variance happened—and then you fix it.

So no, finance isn’t just numbers. It’s people, choices, and stories. But it’s also discipline, correction, and steering the ship back on course.

👉 What about you—when you’ve faced a variance in business or life, how did you manage it back to plan?

#TheAccidentalCFO #inersec #Leadership #FinanceHumor #Resilience