CFOs’ enthusiasm for funding artificial intelligence tools company-wide continues to pick up velocity, including a significant expected spending boost in an area that had been lagging: the finance department itself.
Among 102 finance chiefs surveyed recently by Bain & Co., 56% said they plan to increase enterprise-wide AI investment by more than 15% over the next year. And 83% of expect to do so within two years.
What’s more, 42% of the CFOs said they foresee AI spending hikes of at least 30% during the two-year period.
A significant share of the spending will be allocated to finance. In a concurrent Bain survey of 264 finance department heads, three-quarters said they expect their AI budgets to rise.
“The function that has been approving AI budgets for everyone else while remaining skeptical of the technology’s value closer to home is beginning to move,” Bain wrote in its survey report.
The intra-finance trend is happening despite mixed results from early AI investments, with only 31% of CFOs rating AI outcomes in finance as “strongly positive.”
The success rate likely would improve if more companies would scale machine learning or generative AI into full production across finance. Among the 15% to 25% of finance functions that had scaled any type of AI, the “strongly positive” rating rose to 41%.
Despite the rising investment, about 60% of finance organizations reported AI initiatives that were still in pilot mode or limited production.
“CFOs are doubling down not because early returns have been spectacular, but because the gap between those who have scaled AI and those who haven’t is becoming too large to ignore,” Bain wrote.
The top benefit of finance investing in AI is speed, with cycle times shortening as the same work is completed dramatically faster, the research revealed. Cost savings ran a fairly distant second place. Still, in the world of finance and accounting, increased speed may not add up to much if AI tools produce faulty outputs.
Bain pointed out that in an environment defined by shifting trade policy, volatile rates and supply chain disruption, “the finance function’s ability to reforecast quickly, reallocate capital on short notice and identify risks in real time is a competitive advantage,” not just an operational one.
Additionally, Bain observed that the primary constraint on the growth of AI within finance is no longer technology, but rather work design and controls. “As AI maturity rises, organizations increasingly cite change management and talent as the principal barriers to value,” the report said.
Bain further counseled that companies should avoid letting “yesterday’s pilots define tomorrow’s ambitions.” Capabilities that were unavailable or unreliable even a year ago are now in production at leading companies, the advisory firm noted.
