The buzz around artificial intelligence has only intensified in recent months, leaving business leaders with the unenviable task of separating the technology’s potential from its reality,

While determining AI’s true applications is a must, the larger question CFOs and accounting leaders need to ask themselves is, “do you truly understand how AI is going to affect the people you hire…as well as those that are going to serve your customers?” said Susie Duong, senior director of research and thought leadership at the Institute of Management Accountants.

A CPA, Duong joined IMA two years ago. Her previous roles include a three-year stint at professional education firm Becker, and she has also served as a visiting assistant professor of accounting at University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and an assistant professor of accounting for the NUS Business School at the National University of Singapore, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Making AI welcome

While they don’t occupy the top seat when it comes to driving generative AI strategies at their companies — a study by Gartner found CFOs were fourth on that list, behind chief technology officers, chief information officers and CEOs — finance chiefs are nonetheless intimately involved in the decision process when it comes to how and where to incorporate such technologies.

CFOs are also displeased with how digital investments across their organizations are performing, Gartner’s study found. Implementing AI is pricey, Duong pointed out; if businesses are choosing to incorporate it, “at the same time, you have to give up something else that you could have done,” she said. “This is the opportunity cost.”

To make that cost worth it, finance leaders need to ensure they’ve developed a forward-looking AI strategy that provides a return on investment or strategic benefits for the business. CFOs face challenges in four major areas when it comes to bringing AI into the finance and accounting space, according to a recent study by IMA authored by Duong: understanding the technology itself, ethics and governance, operational issues and lastly, the human element.

To take full advantage, finance leaders will need to foster seamless collaboration between the technology and their employees the IMA study found. While AI won’t replace humans, it will “tremendously impact the future of work for professionals in accounting and finance,” the report argues, and CFOs need to be fully prepared for that future. That means educating both themselves and their employees on the technology itself.

“Working with AI is more like working with a new colleague,” Duong said. “To build the trust, to some extent, you have to understand the algorithm behind it.”

That might be challenging for finance and accounting professionals, who are not typically trained on the technical side, she said. It’s important when bringing AI into the business for CFOs to “pay more attention to your people, at all levels,” she said.

“Tell them exactly why you're doing what you're doing, and why this is beneficial to them, not just to the organization,” Duong advised when it comes to educating one’s employees about the company’s use of AI. “And also provide plenty opportunities for upskilling, or re-skilling your employees.”

Bringing one’s workers into the AI conversation is critical not only because it can help smooth the technology’s way into the company, but also because workers remain wary over the potential threat AI represents to their jobs, Duong said.

In the short time since ChatGPT was launched by OpenAI in November 2022, AI job loss has already abounded, with 37% of business leaders claiming the technology replaced workers in 2023, according to a recent CNBC report. Large tech companies like Google, meanwhile, have laid off hundreds of staff members as they continue to invest further in AI, stoking replacement fears.

Leaders should “invite your employees into this whole process, especially the function that is going to be affected,” Duong said. That way, they feel as though their opinion is valued, which can help alleviate some of their fear of replacement as well as make it more likely for them to use the AI technologies that are incorporated, she said.

Prepping for the new accounting age

Finance chiefs also can’t rest on their laurels when it comes to AI education: such a thing has to be done continuously to ensure the company and its talent are keeping pace with the rapid evolution of this and other emerging technologies, Duong said.

It’s also important for CFOs to take a forward-looking approach when it comes to how AI and employees will interact with each other as the technology becomes more commonplace in the finance and accounting sector.  

Finance chiefs are already dealing with a shortage of talent in the accounting world, and while they hunt for skilled talent — or new tech to fill the gap — those that are aspiring to enter the accounting world have different expectations than the old guard, Duong said.

Today’s college students are already learning how to use AI as part of their work, Duong said — and when those students graduate and enter the accounting profession, “their perception of accounting and finance will be completely different,” she said. Finance chiefs need to consider such changing perspectives in an AI-driven world, she said.