AI helps finance teams most in the work around the numbers, not the numbers themselves: matching and triaging reconciliation exceptions, drafting accruals from contracts, writing variance narratives, and assembling forecast inputs. The ledger entries stay human-approved; the hours of preparation collapse.
AI in the close
| Task | AI role | Human role |
|---|---|---|
| Bank/intercompany reconciliation | Match, triage exceptions, suggest causes | Approve matches, resolve true exceptions |
| Accruals | Draft from contracts, POs, and run-rate history | Review and post |
| Flux / variance analysis | Draft narratives with figures cited | Verify, add business context |
| Journal entries | Prepare support and documentation | Approve and post, always |
| Close checklist | Track status, chase owners, flag risks to timeline | Own the close |
AI in the forecast
- Input assembly: pull actuals, pipeline and headcount plans into the model without a week of copy-paste.
- Driver analysis: surface which assumptions moved since last cycle, with the data behind each.
- Scenario drafting: generate the downside/base/upside variants finance always intends to build and rarely has time for.
- Narrative: draft the commentary; the CFO owns the message.
The controls that make it safe
- Nothing posts to the ledger without human approval, no exceptions.
- Every AI-drafted figure links to its source document or query.
- Segregation holds: the AI that drafts is not the account that approves.
- Log prompts and outputs, your auditors will ask, and 'we can show you' is the right answer.
