Finance leaders are charged with ensuring their organizations’ fiscal health and working with other executives to build a strategy for a successful future. It’s never an easy job, and today’s world of economic volatility, higher interest rates, talent shortages, and trade tensions adds a host of complications.
In an increasingly digitally driven world, CFOs also must monitor the company’s rapidly growing and changing data to improve efficiencies, reduce accounting errors, make sure regulations are followed, and help their C-suite colleagues spot promising growth opportunities before competitors beat them to it. But they are constantly pulled away by everyday demands, spending much of their time supervising teams to ensure that errors and anomalies are resolved and the books are closed on time every month, quarter, and year. Tight deadlines also make it tough for staff to complete data and document reviews on time.
Enter artificial intelligence (AI), which is helping to relieve the pressure by eliminating repetitive tasks and enabling everyone from the most junior accountant to the CFO to use their highest skills to pull the organization forward. Though it’s still early to judge widescale results, the early returns are promising: 63% of organizations in Workday’s 2023 AI IQ report say their AI and machine learning (ML) deployments have increased company revenue.
The need for better tools
Some finance and procurement leaders are excited about AI’s potential, with 40% saying it will enable teams to deliver more strategic value and 39% calling it a complete game-changer, according to Workday’s C-Suite Global AI Indicator Report. Yet the survey found AI adoption in finance is among the slowest, with fewer than half of teams implementing a solution or pilot project.
Still, the momentum for AI adoption is growing—in part because leaders recognize that the technology they currently use is inadequate for meeting today’s demands. Over a quarter of finance employees and 16% of finance leaders are dissatisfied with the siloed, labor-intensive tools teams use to complete their tasks, the C-Suite Global AI Indicator Report found. Leaders are also unhappy with tools outside teams use to compile and report expense and procurement data.
AI can address some of these issues and transform the way teams work, performing rote tasks better than humans and giving employees more time for decision-making and innovative thinking.
“People are not good at looking at hundreds of thousands of transactions to find the one that shouldn’t be there,” says Workday Co-President Sayan Chakraborty. “Today’s automation solutions can scan thousands and thousands of lines of financial transactions quickly. AI doesn’t get tired, and it doesn’t run out of time.”
In addition to easing closing pressure, AI can spot errors sooner, making them easier to correct and preventing them from compounding as data is compiled and shared.
“Rather than waiting until the end of the quarter to find all the problems, you can have the machine learning algorithm identify them as they happen—when you still remember everything about a transaction and can fix it quickly,” Chakraborty says.
A smart assistant
AI’s benefits extend well beyond speeding the close. Leaders are likely to gain the most immediate value from it in technical tasks – such as budgeting, forecasting, procurement, and scenario planning – and in certain strategic endeavors, including planning support across business lines and improving talent recruitment and development.
Over time, the strategic benefits will increase. As AI analyzes the exponential amount of data it has collected, it can reveal unforeseen threats, opportunities, and challenges, pointing executives to factors they should consider to make sound decisions. For example, some finance regulations are applicable in some countries, but not others.
“If you’re looking at everything, you’re looking at nothing,” Chakraborty says. “AI starts to change executive discussions from exchanging opinions to engaging in data-grounded conversations. It helps leaders discern which things matter to a decision and which things don’t.”
When used throughout the organization, AI also saves other executives time and breaks down silos, allowing the C-suite to collaborate better on decisions, including those that can accelerate revenue growth.
“Should we build this product? Should we buy this company? If we’ve got five different investment opportunities, which is the right one? AI enables financial leaders to work with the rest of the stakeholders in the business to find the right path forward,” Chakraborty says.
Getting started with AI
Though finance leaders are enthusiastic about AI, many are concerned about their ability to manage it. There’s also concern of a skills gap; in the C-Suite Global AI Indicator Report, 30% said they worried that finance and procurement teams would not have the technical skills to work effectively with AI solutions.
Having the right expertise in place is critical to any financial endeavor, Chakraborty says.
“People matter immensely to your financial outcomes, and your financial outcomes matter immensely to your people. We’re all in the talent business now.”
AI can actually help to address talent challenges by finding the right skills in unexpected places. It can also speed onboarding and make smart upskilling suggestions. And if it’s used correctly, AI can allay finance leaders’ concerns about potential job losses and the possibility of introducing errors or bias into decisions. They can avoid these problems by working with other leaders and knowledgeable partners to establish a governance system applying safeguards that keep humans at the center of all decisions.
“With the right guardrails and auditing capabilities in place, people can understand how to tune AI and use it correctly,” Chakraborty says. “It’s about finding ways to make people’s jobs easier, more fun, and more fulfilling.”
Finance leaders who can do that are more likely to attract people with top skills. And when they arrive, AI will give them the tools and the time they need to make decisions that drive the organization toward greater financial strength and profitability.
Learn how Workday’s finance and HR platform, with AI embedded at the core, can help your organization redefine how work works.