2025's recalibration of the finance function - where does this leave skilled humans?

Source: Supplied. Tim Wakeford, Vice President, Financials Product Strategy at Workday.

As we navigate our way through wave after wave of change, one question refuses to go away - where does technology leave skilled finance professionals? How should those of us working in this industry respond to the changes we are seeing? And what can we expect from the next decade? Should we be alarmed or excited by imminent change?

Where has AI had the biggest impact so far?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is an innovation that has created the biggest buzz, being widely used today with the broadest potential impact of any other technology. It is now so effectively embedded into the way many finance teams work that its power can almost be taken for granted.

Certain finance processes were ripe for AI-driven automation, and these were the first to be disrupted. Typically, these were high-volume activities such as supplier invoice processing, account reconciliations or credit control - essential tasks which don’t require much accounting skill, but were a huge time suck for deadline-driven finance teams.

It therefore made perfect sense that technology would be deployed here to make an almost immediate positive difference. AI at its most effective has essentially been used a bit like a volume processing engine, deployed to automate time-intensive tasks, but not touching areas which are strategically significant.

More recently (and perhaps more ambitiously) we have seen chatbots embedded as the first point of contact for external enquiries to the finance function. AI extracts relevant information, crafts responses in almost real time and then accurately responds to the query. This vastly reduces the strain on finance teams and is, largely, welcomed by users. Very much a win-win.

What does the future hold for AI?

Conventional wisdom has generally held that finance has functions that are perfect for AI and automation - as we have seen - and those that are not.

Repetitive, high-volume tasks could be transformed by AI, but as soon as skill, judgement and expertise were required, we saw the limits of technology. Lately we have seen this view challenged, with some interesting and game-changing results.

Right now it is precisely the part of the finance function that has not been automated where we see the biggest opportunities for AI. Areas of finance in which highly skilled accountants were required to use their expertise and judgement, for example, can also be improved with technology.

In document-driven accounting, for example, highly skilled and experienced accountants spend huge amounts of time reading dense, highly technical documents, and then deciding what the implications of the relevant clauses in those documents would be.

We are now reaching a time when AI is able to automate this onerous and time consuming work, not only able to scan a document for meaning, but to understand and implement the appropriate accounting treatment as a result.

What does this mean for finance professionals?

If we put ourselves in the position of the CFO for a moment, contemplating how to respond to a rapidly transforming finance function, there are a few useful learnings.

As we see technology-driven efficiencies making their mark in an organisation we have several opportunities to redeploy resources. With fewer people needed to keep the cogs turning in the finance team, finance professionals can start working on activities that better support the business, mitigate risk and improve the company’s results. Finance professionals can become more strategic, taking a long-term view of the organisation.

They can make strategic recommendations based on the accurate data that can now be swiftly delivered via AI tools, combined with their knowledge and experience.

Similarly, members of the finance team who were once engaged in high-volume activities such as inputting data are now able to spend more time communicating with stakeholders - both internal and external. Better communication between the finance team and those it serves ensures that the control environment improves for all stakeholders. In this way, the role of the finance team becomes less about transactions and more about improving quality.

There may also be a need for finance professionals to put greater focus on developing “softer skills” in the areas of communications and strategy to complement their traditional focus on technical skills.

For employees this tends to mean they will find themselves working on more satisfying, enjoyable and cerebral tasks than they could have expected just a few years ago. It improves engagement within the business and reduces staff attrition.

AI technology is creating a recalibration of the finance function and this is opening up exciting possibilities along with proven efficiencies. The way that technology is automating aspects of finance is leading to better quality outcomes across the organisation and beyond.

Human beings are still very much needed in this reimagined way of working, but we are now in the position where humans are able to do what best suits them and their talents.