Artificial Intelligence (AI) is moving beyond the experimental stage in corporate finance. It’s quickly becoming part of how finance teams work, analyze information, and make decisions. According to the “KPMG Global AI in Finance 2026” report, 75% of finance executives surveyed said their organizations actively use AI, up from just 30% in 2024. Similarly, Grant Thornton’s Q2 2026 CFO survey found that finance leaders are rapidly adopting AI, with 97% of organizations piloting, scaling, or fully integrating it into their operations.
But as adoption accelerates, a bigger question is emerging: What will AI ultimately mean for the people, skills, and structure of the finance function?
Geoffrey Brown, CAE, president and CEO of the Illinois CPA Society, expects AI to reshape both finance teams and the roles within them: “We’re moving into a place where, regardless of where you work, it’s going to be an incredibly AI-enabled profession that’s going to give chief financial officers (CFOs), controllers, and other corporate finance leaders the opportunity to redesign workflows and reimagine what their teams look like.”
The impact could be especially noticeable in traditional financial planning and analysis (FP&A) and accounts receivable and payable roles, where AI may take on more routine work.
Brown adds that companies could also see changes in staffing needs and the mix of skills required: “On most corporate finance teams, you probably won’t need the same number of people, and you’ll definitely need people with different skills. There’s going to be a lot of repeatable tasks that AI alleviates, and that’s going to create opportunities for people to enter finance roles at a higher level where they can make a more immediate impact.”
Traditionally, corporate finance roles have focused more on analyzing past performance. Going forward, Brown believes professionals will need to be more proactive, connecting financial insights with strategy and operations, interpreting what the data means, and helping business leaders make more confident decisions.
Making that shift from reactive to forward looking will require a different set of skills and a deliberate effort to develop them. At BMO U.S., that work is already underway.
BMO encourages employees to experiment with the AI tools available to them to find practical ways to use the technology in their work to help speed up decisions while maintaining trust across clients and stakeholders. To support that effort, the company offers a finance-focused AI curriculum with self-study modules and a digital lounge featuring videos, articles, and examples from across the organization. On some teams, AI-related objectives, such as automating or streamlining processes, are also incorporated into annual performance goals.
Shifra Kolsky, CPA, U.S. chief accountant and controller at BMO, says these efforts aren’t just about helping their employees use the tools—it’s about making sure they continue developing the judgment and technical knowledge needed to use them well: “We have to learn how to become more technically adept with AI tools, but we also have to figure out how to bring people who are newer to the workforce up the learning curve so they can develop strong judgment and technical knowledge.”
Along with building skills, the bank is placing a strong emphasis on accountability in using AI. AI used in financial reporting is governed by BMO’s responsible AI principles and supported by risk management oversight and training to help ensure outputs are appropriately reviewed.
Kolsky says that review process reinforces the important role humans still play in all of this. AI can produce the output, but finance professionals still must evaluate it, question it, and decide how it should be used.
“For some people, there’s a natural fear when it comes to AI,” Kolsky says. “One of the things that we focus on is helping people understand that AI augments roles—enabling them to focus on higher value, insights-focused work. There may be certain tasks it’ll replace, but it really elevates the importance of professionals who can apply judgment and make decisions. Human judgment, ethics, skepticism, and trust—those kinds of things, things accounting and finance professionals are regarded for, aren’t things that AI can do. Humans will still have a role.”
Pat Sullivan, CPA, who’s served as CFO of Brilliant for the past 12 years, sees a similar pattern. For now, he views AI primarily as a way of improving efficiency rather than replacing finance staff outright: “Companies are looking at it from an efficiency standpoint—how’s it going to save them time?”
Brilliant has only recently begun using AI more extensively, primarily for reporting, FP&A, and automating manual accounting work. Sullivan says the company is also exploring ways to automate much of its accounts payable process, including invoice processing, expense coding, and payments.
For Sullivan’s small finance team, however, the bigger opportunity is to free employees for more analytical work, while allowing the company to grow without adding staff at the same pace. But he admits that can make the return on AI investments harder to calculate—the savings may come from reducing future hires rather than jobs it eliminates: “There’s always a cost factor. If you’re investing a lot of money in AI, the assumption is that you’re going to reduce costs and reduce headcount to offset that additional cost because it’s easier to justify an investment that way.”
In fact, 92% of respondents to an Avalara survey said they feel “moderate or significant career pressure to demonstrate that AI agent investments are delivering ROI, with half calling that pressure significant.” Further, half of respondents say “their AI agent initiatives have delivered only limited measurable ROI to date.”
Ultimately, as more companies adopt the technology, Sullivan says efficiency gains alone may eventually be enough to warrant the cost: “At the end of the day, that may be the price of admission for remaining competitive. If your competitors are implementing AI, you’re going to have to do it to keep up and stay competitive.” Still, Sullivan believes the industry is only beginning to understand AI’s potential.
For finance leaders still figuring out where AI fits into their business practices, experimentation is part of the process.
Clay Green, CPA, CFO of Library Furniture International, says his company is also just “scratching the surface” of AI’s capabilities. For now, much of their use remains relatively basic. The company is currently using it for data analysis, reporting, and financial modeling.
In a companywide survey of about 30 employees, Green found that AI was commonly being used for drafting emails, conducting research, and brainstorming ideas. But he expects AI use to move beyond those one-off tasks, with employees eventually using tools capable of carrying out multi-step processes and interacting with other business systems.
For Green, that’s part of what makes this moment exciting. Unlike established accounting and enterprise resource planning systems, AI is still evolving, leaving finance professionals to build their skills alongside the technology: “The big thing is just being curious and staying on top of what’s out there—finance professionals should be asking how they can factor AI into their daily lives.”
Brown similarly urges finance professionals to experiment with AI tools, build fluency, and share what they learn with colleagues: “Experiment, experiment, experiment. Unless you’re retiring next year, you should start beefing up your comfort level and AI chops.”
He also cautions against treating AI as simply another tool to check off a list. Instead, he suggests accounting and finance professionals focus on how the technology can help them become more effective and contribute more to the business: “Cut through the hype, find real opportunities, evaluate the technologies appropriately, and deliver real strategic value.”
If professionals can build that fluency now, Brown believes AI could help shift the finance function from a largely reactive role to a more forward-looking strategic one: “A lot of corporate finance professionals today are reacting to what just happened versus painting a picture of what’s about to come—AI is creating opportunities to change that.”
