181 finance leaders participated in the poll, which according to FinTech Finance showed that a significant 68% of CFOs think AI is essential for their financial operations, especially in areas like financial reporting.

The poll reveals that most finance teams are still in the early phases of integrating AI, despite the enthusiasm. Roughly nine percent of the organizations questioned have started to scale their AI programs as they work through the challenges of using AI to improve decision-making and operational efficiency.

Leading the way in the AI revolution are IT behemoths like Microsoft, Oracle, and Workday. They are all creating cutting-edge solutions that automate crucial financial operations and solve shared issues like security and talent shortages. For instance, Microsoft has greatly increased the usefulness of its Dynamics 365 ERP software for financial activities by integrating AI capabilities into the platform.

AI's function in finance is growing from doing menial jobs to taking on more important responsibilities. AI is now being used by about 45% of CFOs for medium-impact tasks, such as data visualization, which improves analytical skills.

With over 98% of CFOs predicting that generative AI would expedite decision-making processes within their companies over the next three years, the future of generative AI is bright. CFOs could anticipate to get access to a wider choice of solutions as the competition among generative AI suppliers heats up. This might help them improve their risk management tactics, especially when it comes to preventing fraud.

Perttu Nihti, CPO of Basware, provided insights on CFOs' increasing optimism about AI's potential. "AI definitely has a big role to play in the office of the CFO across areas like fraud prevention," he said. It's exciting to see CFOs become more confident about AI use cases in finance as proof of concept and pilot programs provide returns on investment.

"AI-powered automation can have a transformative impact on operations within the finance team, driving efficiency in areas including invoice management and financial reporting which are traditionally time-consuming tasks," said Nihti, highlighting the transformational impact of automation powered by AI on finance operations. AI gives CFOs and financial teams the ability to recover important hours each week by automating repetitive operations and optimizing workflows. These hours can then be allocated towards larger strategic goals, including compliance.

A recent Gartner poll also revealed a change in CFO attitudes regarding AI, with 66% more respondents feeling optimistic about AI's potential commercial value than the previous year. This conclusion was corroborated by earlier Sage research, which showed that although 86% of firms have embraced AI, only around half are actively using AI-powered products in the banking industry.

"While many organizations see the broad benefits of AI, integrating it into specialized functions like finance requires a more targeted approach as well as perhaps overcoming additional barriers, such as skill gaps, budget constraints, or concerns about data security," said Jacqui Cartin, executive vice president and group financial controller at Sage, in response to questions about the integration challenges.