CFOs Push AI Forward but Keep a Hand on the Wheel

CFOs have high hopes for AI. As it stands, 100% of executives surveyed report using some advanced form of it for at least one finance task. But they’re taking a relatively cautious approach for now. While many are using the technology for monitoring and maintenance, they are far more hesitant to use it for high-judgment or cross-system jobs.

Finance chiefs are ready to automate a broader set of analytical tasks. They are eager to take on AI’s recommendations, but not to hand over complete control. Down the line, they see a future in which the tool can autonomously handle tasks such as regulatory compliance and capital structure optimization. They expect significant impact in areas where finance teams face the most manual work and system friction, particularly in budget reallocation and workflow coordination. However, they are less willing to hand over deeply contextual or externally facing decisions.

In short, CFOs are preparing for a shift from cautious automation to AI-driven strategic acceleration across the enterprise.

These are just some of the findings detailed in this edition of the CAIO Report, “CFOs Push AI Forward but Keep a Hand on the Wheel,” a PYMNTS Intelligence exclusive. This edition examines what tasks enterprise finance chiefs are starting to use AI for and what they’re still hesitant about. It draws on insights from a survey of 60 CFOs working at United States firms that generated at least $1 billion in revenues last year. The survey was conducted from Oct. 23, 2025, to Oct. 31, 2025.

• Delegating Tasks to AI
• Keeping Control
• The Impact of AI
• Read More
• Methodology

Delegating Tasks to AI

CFOs are adopting AI for structured, rules-based tasks—not for more complex applications.

The first tasks that CFOs are delegating to AI are highly regimented. Many executives deploy the technology for monitoring and documentation. For instance, nearly half (45%) of CFO’s are using the technology to continuously monitor working capital and cash flows. The same share uses it to standardize account charts and intercompany transactions. Other popular usages include keeping on top of audit readiness, detecting anomalies, ensuring compliance and maintaining data governance. In short, finance teams are using the technology in areas where automation is easy to deploy and trust is already established.

By contrast, CFOs are more cautious about adopting AI in areas that require more complex reasoning and/or have more moving parts. Just 22% are using it to coordinate finance workflows across systems. Only one in five deploy AI to produce real-time forecasts and dynamic hypothetical simulations. Use is also limited in intercompany reconciliation and workflow orchestration. It would appear that trust barriers still restrict AI’s applications in high-judgment or cross-system tasks.

Keeping Control

CFOs welcome autonomously generated strategic insights but will not hand over control.

While most finance chiefs are not currently using AI for forecasting, they welcome the technology’s recommendations. CFOs show the highest willingness to let AI act autonomously in analytical, judgment-driven tasks with well-defined decision frameworks. The majority (52%) would be amenable to using autonomous AI to provide suggestions on adjusting liquidity or payment timing. Additionally, 42% would be willing to use it to automatically generate visual summaries and executive insights.

However, finance chiefs are considerably less willing to use autonomous AI for cross-system or integration-heavy processes. Fewer than one in three would automate month-end close orchestration, intercompany reconciliation, dynamic budget reallocation or multi-system workflow coordination. This highlights how executive-level trust is low for highly complex functions and areas where operational risk remains high.

Down the line, CFOs would welcome autonomous AI’s strategic assistance. In future years, more than six in 10 would be willing to let autonomous AI automatically monitor and adapt financial functions to new regulations. Additionally, 58% would use it to produce autonomous compliance reports and filings, 50% to optimize capital structure dynamically and 48% to provide strategic recommendations.

Yet most CFOs are not open to full autonomy. They remain cautious about delegating high-stakes or deeply judgment-driven responsibilities, including M&A evaluation, workflow self-optimization, negotiations with external parties or acting as a “virtual CFO.”

The Impact of AI

CFOs expect agentic AI’s greatest impact to come from executing dynamic, cross-system financial tasks.

CFOs see strong potential for AI to change how they make time-consuming, important, data-based decisions in the next 12 months. For instance, 43% anticipate high-impact efficiency gains from agentic AI’s ability to dynamically reallocate budgets. Only 10% expect little to no impact. Additionally, 42% anticipate high-impact results from agentic AI used to coordinate finance workflows across enterprise resource planning (ERP), accounts receivable (AR), accounts payable (AP) and treasury systems. The same share expects significant gains from AI agents that monitor compliance and detect policy or control exceptions.

By contrast, finance chiefs anticipate lower efficiency gains from routine monitoring (where only 25% expect a high impact) or forecasting tasks (32%) that are already partially automated.

Looking ahead, CFOs expect the greatest impact from AI agents that autonomously adapt to regulatory change and manage the cross-system complexity of multi-entity consolidation—two of the most labor-intensive and risk-sensitive areas in modern finance. Specifically, 43% expect high impacts from the former and 42% from the latter.

Piecing together these near- and long-term predictions, it seems that finance leaders’ expectations for agentic AI follow a clear progression. Early AI deployments have already made monitoring and control more efficient. In the next year, agentic AI will streamline cross-system workflows. Down the line, future-generation agents are expected to transform the most complex and judgment-heavy areas of finance. All told, the expectation is that AI will evolve from augmenting routine work to reshaping strategic and operational decision-making across the enterprise.

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Methodology

“CFOs Push AI Forward but Keep a Hand on the Wheel,” a PYMNTS Intelligence exclusive report, examines the tasks enterprise finance chiefs are starting to use AI for and what they’re still hesitant about. It draws on insights from a survey of 60 CFOs working at U.S. firms that generated at least $1 billion in revenue last year. The survey was conducted from Oct. 23, 2025, to Oct. 31, 2025.