CFOs at the Crossroads of Change
When I speak with CFOs today, one thing is clear: they’re being asked to do more than ever—especially as year-end planning comes into focus. The pressure to contain costs, drive efficiency, and plan for uncertainty coincides with growing expectations around AI adoption, scenario modeling, and strategic foresight.
At Emburse, our AI-Powered Finance: New Practices, ROI and Future Outlook report found that 74% of finance leaders are already seeing ROI from AI investments—yet only 35% have fully automated their expense workflows. That gap speaks volumes: AI is here, but true transformation takes leadership.
Year-end is the perfect time to refine those strategies, align resources, and build the financial resilience required to succeed in 2026 and beyond.
I was glad to see our partner Sage echo these same themes in their CFO Growth Code report; top-performing CFOs are leaning into technology, expanding their influence, and treating compliance not as a grind but as a strategic differentiator. That’s the kind of validation we value, because it confirms what we’re already seeing first-hand: our customers’ success is rooted in their ability to lead with intelligence—and future-ready Emburse Expense Intelligence makes that possible today.
Treat AI as Strategy, Not an Afterthought
As CFOs prepare to close the books and plan for the new fiscal year, the smartest leaders are putting AI at the heart of their budgeting and forecasting process. They’re using intelligent automation and analytics to reallocate resources, surface hidden inefficiencies, and forecast with greater precision—all essential steps as organizations prepare for what’s next.
In our report, we observed that 66% of finance teams have made AI investments, but only 16% rank it as a top priority. That’s a critical disconnect. The CFOs I admire are those who don't relegate AI to secondary status—they center it. Similarly, in their report, Sage found that high-performing CFOs are embedding AI daily into finance workflows. I see the same from our customers: when AI moves from a pilot project to being embedded in the platform, it accelerates accuracy, insight, and efficiency across the entire organization. It’s about empowering finance to shape the right outcomes in real-time, every time.
Partnering for Transformation, Not Just AI for AI’s Sake
For finance teams to move from AI’s promise to its full-scale impact, technology alone isn’t enough. True transformation requires the right partners and mindset. By partnering with providers that deliver Intelligence as a Service, like Emburse, future-forward finance teams gain more than just automation — they gain an intelligence layer that continuously learns, adapts, and provides actionable foresight. It’s not about replacing people, but amplifying their capacity to make faster, smarter, and more confident decisions.
But partnership is only half the story. To realize AI’s potential, finance leaders must also become change agents in their organization — inspiring transformation, not just facilitating it.
As I shared recently in my talk at Georgetown University, most finance leaders are brilliant at identifying what will yield ROI but less practiced at driving the cultural and behavioral change needed to achieve it. The modern CFO’s success depends not only on financial acumen but on their ability to lead with influence, empathy, and vision; helping their organizations embrace new ways of working to drive long-term strategic value.
Use Data to Guide, Not Just Report
Data-driven decision-making becomes even more critical during year-end reviews. Finance teams that use AI to turn historical spend into predictive insight can identify emerging cost drivers early, model multiple scenarios, and enter the next fiscal year with clarity and confidence.
Emburse’s report underscores this: 85% of finance leaders say measuring AI’s impact has recalibrated how they assess success across the business. They’re tracking, iterating, and elevating—moving beyond rearview reporting to intelligent forecasting.
Sage’s finding that 83% of CFOs want real-time visibility backs this up. And with Emburse’s connected spend data—across T&E, AP, and payments—CFOs can finally answer: “Where are the risks? Where are the opportunities? And what should we do next?”
Leading Comes from Influence, Not Permissions
Year-end isn’t just a time to reconcile; it’s a time to reimagine. CFOs who influence beyond the budget are helping their organizations connect financial intelligence with strategic agility, ensuring every decision fuels both resilience and growth.I’ve watched finance leaders extend their reach beyond budgets—into operations, ESG, customer growth, and culture. Our data shows AI is giving finance a seat at every table.
Sage’s research reflects this, too: 90% of high-performing CFOs are influential across areas that used to be outside their domain. With clarity from Emburse Expense Intelligence, CFOs can now collaborate as business partners—not just controllers.
Own Compliance, Don’t Outsource It
Compliance is no longer a checkbox—it’s built on trust. In our study, 24% of finance teams cite data security and privacy as their top AI concern. When CFOs lead with clarity and systems are built for regulation, they win trust while innovating.
Sage’s report confirms that CFOs who own compliance are the ones who lead through transformation, not just navigate it.
The CFO Playbook for Today
As finance leaders prepare their year-end budgets and look ahead to the new year, the opportunity has never been greater—or more urgent—to lead with data, intelligence, and influence. AI enables CFOs to move beyond transactional reporting and into strategic orchestration — guiding their organizations with real-time insight, proactive control, and measurable impact.
Success won’t come from technology alone. It requires people who are willing to embrace the future. The modern CFO must be a catalyst for change — someone who inspires new ways of thinking, empowers teams to welcome innovation, and leads the cultural shifts that make intelligence actionable.
At Emburse, we see this next chapter of finance unfolding through Intelligence as a Service — where insight, automation, and human ingenuity come together to power better decisions across the enterprise. The finance leaders who combine vision with partnership will define this new era: not just balancing the books, but designing the blueprint for the future of business.
Learn More
Explore Emburse’s full research in AI-Powered Finance: New Practices, ROI and Future Outlook
For insight on the habits driving high-performing CFOs, check out Sage’s CFO Growth Code.