Facing the law of unintended consequences.

• Position: Editorial

This is turning out not to be the winter of our discontent, but rather a winter of un-intended consequences. Whether it's health care reform or the government shutdown, financial executives will be dealing with the inadvertent fallout of decisions made outside their control for the foreseeable future.

The most obvious poster child for this phenomenon is The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). While the merits of the bill foster discord across the political spectrum, what can't be debated is that financial professionals responsible for structuring company health plans swamped with issues no one could have foreseen even few weeks ago.

One example is the decision of several large companies that had planned to offer coverage to part-time employees under PPACA which will now reverse course and offer employees a dollar 500 check to purchase a government-sponsored option. A mass shift from the private healthcare system to a publicly run vehicle is not something policymakers or private employers expected, but it is a real and unintended result. Now the expectations of financial professionals had when the PPACA was first introduced need to be scratched, and a new way of thinking needs to be implemented.

Another example of unintended consequences was the recent government shut-down and the possibility of default on U.S. debt. Politics aside, there are unplanned issues that CFOs will need to confront. Another liquidity crisis in the credit markets could be the knockout punch that many companies have...