Technical debt belongs on the balance sheet

Banks are very good at measuring liabilities. They price credit risk, market risk and operational risk to the basis point. Technical debt, the accumulated cost of shortcuts in their systems, rarely appears anywhere a board would see it.

It should. Technical debt behaves like any other liability: it accrues interest in the form of slower change, more incidents and dependence on a shrinking pool of specialists. And like any liability, it can be refinanced, paid down or left to compound.

Make it visible

Start with an inventory a board can read: which systems carry the most debt, what that debt costs each year in workarounds and incidents, and which strategic plans it blocks.

Price it

Put a number on the interest. Engineers can estimate the extra effort every change to a legacy system requires. Finance can turn that into money. The figure is rarely small.

What gets priced gets managed. Technical debt is no exception.

Give it an owner

Debt without an owner grows. Assign each significant item to an executive, set a paydown target, and report progress alongside the other risks the board already watches.