AI Will Improve FP&A, Not Replace It

Yes! AI is poised to improve FP&A by automating routine tasks like forecasting, anomaly detection, and reconciliations, but it’s not replacing human finance professionals. CFOs and their teams still own strategic judgment, decision-making, and accountability.

AI acts as a co-pilot, enhancing efficiency and insight, not eliminating the need for financial leadership. Here's why finance teams should welcome the AI revolution with open arms, not fear it.

AI Helps You Lead the Strategy

AI excels at automating repetitive, data-heavy tasks that typically bog down FP&A teams. Think continuous variance analysis, reconciliations, invoice matching, and anomaly detection. This means less time clicking through spreadsheets and more time on high-value work.

With AI handling the grunt work, your team gains hours back, time that can be reallocated toward crafting insights and working closely with business partners. In short, it hoists your role from number-cruncher to strategic leader.

AI Doesn’t Replace Judgment

While AI and machine learning are transforming finance, it’s important to understand their proper role: they assist, but they don’t decide. Tools like AI-powered anomaly detection can scan vast volumes of financial data, learn what’s “normal,” and instantly flag deviations that might take humans days to uncover. But that’s where the machine’s job ends. The responsibility—and liability—for interpreting those alerts and deciding what action to take remains with finance leaders.

In this context, AI is best understood as a strategic co-pilot. It works behind the scenes to surface insights and trends, but it’s still up to the CFO and their team to contextualize the data and turn it into meaningful action. AI often functions as an invisible copilot, automating analysis while keeping humans in the driver’s seat. Likewise, CFOs still need to combine AI outputs with experience and domain knowledge, especially when high-stakes decisions are on the line.

This approach aligns with what many call the human-in-the-loop model, where technology and human oversight operate in tandem. Leaving AI to run independently in finance is actually a risk—not an advantage—because real-world complexity still demands judgment, ethics, and context. Similarly, while anomaly detection algorithms can help flag risks quickly, human finance professionals are still needed to validate those results, weigh their implications, and act accordingly.

Bottom line? AI makes your finance function faster, smarter, and more responsive—but it does not replace the strategic thinking, judgment, and leadership that only a human can provide.

AI Will Improve FP&A by Expanding Influence

Resist the myth that AI makes FP&A redundant. In fact, the opposite is true. The rise of intelligent finance platforms, coupled with the strategic demands of modern business, has made FP&A more indispensable.

Research shows 93% of CFOs are already using some form of AI in finance, and 70% are investing in generative AI this coming year, which signals that AI is accelerating, not replacing, the role of finance leaders. As you bring AI into the function, you become the bridge between technology and strategic impact. That makes your leadership more critical than ever.

AI handles the complexity and speed that humans can’t, freeing you to focus on the story behind the numbers. The result? A smarter finance function, led by smarter leaders.