Driving Strategic Finance with Clarity and Calm
Ashish Choudhary
Head of Finance
ZFunds
Driving Strategic Finance with Clarity and Calm
Ashish Choudhary
Head of Finance
ZFunds
Long before balance sheets, cross-border compliance, and strategic capital decisions became part of his daily work, Ashish Choudhary’s fascination with finance began during his college years. Initially considering an MBA, he pivoted to chartered accountancy, recognising it as the most rigorous foundation for understanding how businesses are structured, governed, and scaled. This choice laid the groundwork for a career marked by discipline, analytical depth, and strategic insight.
His articleship proved transformative. Under the guidance of his first principal, Ashish observed how high-stakes decisions could be handled with clarity and composure. The experience taught him that finance leadership extends beyond compliance; it requires judgement, confidence, and decisiveness under pressure.
Post-qualification, his first role with a US-based organisation exposed him to managing Indian and US accounting, compliance, and finance operations simultaneously. Navigating multiple regulatory frameworks, tight deadlines, and evolving systems sharpened his skills in structure, accountability, and operating effectively in ambiguity.
Today, as Head of Finance at ZFunds, Ashish combines foundational rigour with cross-border experience to lead a technology-driven financial ecosystem. Known for his calm, structured approach, he positions finance as a strategic partner, driving resilience, scalability, and long-term value creation.
Speaking with TradeFlock, he shares the principles that guide his leadership and decision-making.
Cyber risk management is now integral to daily finance operations, not just a compliance requirement. I treat data security as part of internal controls and governance, not solely an IT responsibility.
We enforce strict role-based access across financial systems, ERPs, and banking platforms, with segregation of duties and multi-level approvals for critical activities. SOP-driven processes with automated audit trails ensure traceability and early anomaly detection.
Finance collaborates closely with IT and security teams on access reviews, multi-factor authentication, password policies, and system changes. Sensitive data—including banking credentials, payroll, investor information, and statutory records—is stored and shared only via secure, encrypted platforms.
Frequent reconciliations, variance analysis, and exception reporting act as early-warning tools. Equally important is team awareness, with training on phishing, data handling, and approval hygiene. Embedding cyber resilience into daily finance routines ensures security, compliance, and business agility.
AI and automation must serve a clear business purpose, enhancing decision-making rather than being adopted for novelty. I prioritise responsible data use, privacy, consent, regulatory compliance, transparency, explainable models, and monitoring for bias.Operational safeguards include clear ownership, accountability, human-in-the-loop controls, and regular model validation, monitoring, and recalibration, supported by strong internal controls, audit trails, and override mechanisms.
When applied responsibly, AI and automation improve speed, accuracy, and scalability while maintaining trust, fairness, and accountability across financial operations.
Change is constant—geopolitical shifts, currency volatility, and technological disruption shape business risk daily. Since 2010, I’ve learnt to treat volatility as familiar terrain, staying alert, informed, and focused, prioritising impactful changes, and responding with discipline and preparedness rather than reacting to every development.
Having worked across e-commerce, retail, B2B, B2C, manufacturing, and financial services with organisations like Paytm, Noon, Spinny, and Zyod, I’ve learnt that while business models differ, financial leadership fundamentals remain consistent.
I start with depth—understanding operating cycles, unit economics, customer behaviour, vendor dependencies, and cash conversion cycles. Cash management anchors all decisions, with disciplined forecasting, working capital optimisation, and early stress-point identification ensuring stability.
Negotiation tactics vary, but the goal is aligning cash flows with business realities. Scalable processes—automated workflows, clean reconciliations, strong controls, and timely closures—build confidence in numbers, enabling leadership to make fast, informed decisions. Finance becomes both a stabiliser and a growth enabler.
Finance teams must be business-centric, focusing on real-time impact on cash flow, risk, growth, and execution. Agility requires acting on imperfect information while maintaining discipline. Embedding compliance, auditability, and controls from the start ensures teams remain strategically relevant, responsive, and true business partners in dynamic environments.
Staying calm is a mindset. Fast-paced startups taught me to thrive under intensity. I enjoy building and problem-solving in “hustle mode”, which energises rather than stresses me. Clarity of purpose and engagement turn pressure into focus, not overwhelm.
Is there anything you’d like to pursue if you had more time or energy?
If time allowed, I’d spend more on sports and outdoor activities, especially basketball. That said, I feel aligned with what I do professionally. If there’s one priority I’d consciously choose more of, it would be quality time with my family.
Age: 37
Secret Sauce of Leadership: Leadership, for me, is about clarity, trust, and consistent judgement, not authority or titles.
Favourite Book: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Biggest Inspiration: The opportunity to see businesses grow from chaos to clarity
Advice: Don’t avoid messy environments.
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