Responding to AI's entry into the financial field: How can CFOs avoid being eliminated?

April 20 news, for risk-averse accountants and chief financial officers (CFOs), change can be difficult. However, with the advent of artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies, finance personnel who do not adapt to this trend may be eliminated.

Myles Corson, global and Americas strategy and market leader of Ernst & Young Financial Accounting Advisory Services, said: “Financial people are often conservative by nature, and managing risks is always the core of the work of financial personnel. When This is especially true when technology moves faster than regulation. So guardrails need to be put in place in this space, and CFOs want to see where information is shared."

While AI-powered chatbots are ready for scale There are still questions about its application in the financial field, but sitting still is not the best option. A recent study by market research firm Gartner predicts that by 2026, half of new hires in top-performing corporate finance departments will need to have a background other than finance or accounting, driven by artificial intelligence and automation. In today’s finance world, only 18% of finance staff are digitally competent, and only 11% of their managers are.

In the eyes of investment companies, the trend has also changed. Mark Bean, managing director of Thomas H. Lee Partners LP, a Boston-based private equity firm focused on financial, business and health technology companies, said the firm sees CFO software and services as a particularly attractive option. Attractive growth areas.

At company-owned investment firms, managers are noticing that many CFOs are using Excel to handle complex tasks at a time when they are being asked to do more with less. "Over time, Excel financial models become very complex and prone to problems," Bean said.

Still, AI technology is still in its infancy for the CFO’s office. "Of course, over time, finance staff will have to be exposed to this technology. Cutting-edge tools are particularly useful for financial budgeting and forecasting, which can save a lot of time. This technology not only targets the most likely business forecasts, but also several scenarios and the likelihood of those situations occurring,” Bean said.

Some companies are trying to apply artificial intelligence technology to finance. Dev Ahuja, chief financial officer of industrial aluminum company Novelis, has taken a step towards developing in-house machine learning technology for cash flow forecasting on a pilot basis with the hope of deployment this year. "Getting a quick win can be a huge motivator for bigger projects," Ahuja said. "It's more about empowering the organization to really create the right vision."

However, industry insiders say "our biggest The threat is inertia,” a statement the data seems to bear out. A recent survey of more than 700 global financial executives conducted by Ontario-based enterprise performance management software provider Prophix Software found that 65 per cent of respondents said they planned to automate more than half of their operations by the end of the year. But 62% said deploying technology was the biggest obstacle, not cost. "Unfortunately, our biggest competitor is actually Excel," said Alok Ajmera, CEO of Prophix Software. A finance department that is viewed as a cost center can more easily change its position within the company. Faiz Ahmad, head of global transaction services at Bank of America, said: "A lot of analytics are helping finance and finance teams become part of the core business."

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