Conversation around artificial intelligence is still buzzing, with much of the attention shifted to agentic AI solutions that can help minimize time-consuming manual processes in areas like finance and accounting. Utilizing those tools effectively is going to require “a real mindset shift” on the part of CFOs, however, Myles Corson, EY global and EY Americas strategy and markets leader, financial advisory services said.
Not only do CFOs need to think differently about the technology itself, but they also need to consider how incorporating agentic AI or other automated solutions could change the finance function itself, Corson said. As automation takes over more and more tasks, finance chiefs need to ensure they are shaping the future finance function to successfully take advantage.
“The focus for successful CFOs and finance organizations going forward is, as this automation comes in...are you really delivering the insight to the commercial functions and able to be part of that business partnering conversation?” Corson said in an interview. “Are you being brought in early enough to be able to help shape those business decisions? I think that’s where the opportunity lies.”
The AI organizational shift
Considering agentic AI’s place inside their organizations requires a different approach from CFOs than past technologies. With other forms of automation, such as robotic process automation, “we’ve been asking the machines to do very specific tasks in very specific ways,” Corson said. With emerging tools like generative and specifically, agentic AI, however, those patterns and structured ways of thinking no longer apply — “now it's actually about opening the aperture,” he said.
The spotlight on agentic AI is also “forcing this conversation around, ‘what does the future of organizational design look like?’” Corson said, as finance chiefs weigh the implications of introducing technologies that could fundamentally change how certain processes are done into the finance function.
Agentic AI’s potential needs to be balanced against its risk, however — there’s still a cost associated with integrating such tools that CFOs have to weigh, he said, which can be tricky when the technology itself is continuously evolving.
“How do you balance that return on investment calculation, when some of the benefits and the upside, isn't known?” he said. “You can clearly measure the investment, but how you assess what the potential return is, given the speed which this is evolving, is a challenge I think that many CFOs are wrestling with right now.”
Identifying a particular problem area where the technology can be applied is a critical first step for finance chiefs who need to hit that ROI balance. Working with their IT counterparts here to identify the right tool and application is critical, especially as the AI space grows more saturated — more than 300 companies have cropped up in the “office of the CFO” software field, a recent survey by Norwest found.
Building the innovation muscle
Finance chiefs also need to shift their mindset when it comes to finance talent and culture as AI and automation continue to seep further into the business, Corson said.
“Have you also communicated to your people that vision for how their roles are going to change, why they will actually become more interesting, more meaningful, more focused on the business partnering and value creation side?” Corson said. An October 2024 EY survey found that the odds of a successful digital transformation initiative more than doubled when the workforce had a clear idea of leaderships’ vision and goals.
Creating that transparency is critical to ensure employees are “excited and energized about it, rather than fearful, because a large element of what they currently do is being automated,” he said.
It’s also crucial for CFOs to leave their teams room to experiment; “actually, the way to build the innovation muscle memory is to experiment…to learn and iterate,” he said. Finance chiefs need to be “deliberate” in the way they are fostering that experimentation inside of their teams, he said.
