Sure, comparison may be the thief of joy, but every now and again, it’s helpful to take a look at your fellow CFOs to see how they’re doing things.
And when the opportunity presents itself, it’s even better to take a look at how 1,434 finance leaders across 26 countries are doing things, wouldn’t you say? That’s what we have, thanks to Deloitte’s latest finance trends report, released September 8.
For starters, and surprising no one, AI is top of mind: Looking ahead to the 2027 fiscal year, 43% of the respondents are prioritizing AI and advanced technology to automate operations.
The explosion of AI is also pushing key strategic decisions onto finance teams’ agendas, and to that end, the survey’s authors note that their report “shows how—and how quickly—many finance leaders’ mandates may be expanding.”
“When asked which responsibilities they lead outside the traditional scope of finance, respondents most often cite cross-enterprise AI and technology capital allocation (54%); AI trust, including ensuring reliable, accurate, and explainable AI outputs (48%); and oversight of AI and technology spending and cost controls (48%),” the survey found.
Over two-thirds of respondents who said they’d taken on these new responsibilities did so in the last three years, highlighting the novelty of these changes.
Containing costs may take some effort.
Six out of 10 respondents anticipated AI costs and complexity to climb “substantially” in 2027, and finance leaders said they’ll need to “adopt more sophisticated AI cost management practices” in the year ahead. Only 35% of respondents said they planned to maintain their current cost management practices.
“Notably, respondents who expect AI costs to rise are more likely to work at more AI-mature companies than those who expect costs to stay around current levels, according to how respondents answered questions about their organizations’ AI journeys,” the survey’s authors noted.
See? Isn’t it (sometimes) helpful to know how everyone else is doing?
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