By Terence Tse
CFOs are evolving into AI-driven transformation orchestrators, balancing finance, technology, and strategy while upskilling teams, managing risks, and driving measurable business value.
A key insight from this year’s AI for CFOs event, organized by The Economist, is the significant shift in corporate leadership: chief financial officers now play an equally critical role in AI and digital transformation as in traditional finance management. Recent survey data reinforces this trend, indicating that 53% of CFOs have assumed direct responsibility for digital and process transformation initiatives.[1] This expanded mandate now surpasses two traditional responsibilities: steward – preserving an organization’s assets by minimizing risk, providing accurate financial reports, and engaging in mergers and acquisitions – and operator – running efficient and effective financial operations.[2] The role of CFO is no longer merely a “scorekeeper” or guardian of capital. Instead, it has become the primary orchestrator of enterprise performance and a leading advocate for technological change.
Beyond Stewardship and Operation
Such a change is largely due to the fact that organizations must now undergo continuous digital transformation, in which system integration and workflow digitization are essential rather than aspirational.
Three reasons likely explain the redefinition of the CFO role. First, the finance function is often the most accessible area for AI-driven improvement within organizations. Financial planning and forecasting, accounts receivable and payable, and reporting are among the lowest hanging fruits for AI automation within a company. As a result, finance is often the first department to adopt AI. Getting an early start in AI implementation also makes it easier to charge ahead with the latest technological developments. For example, Meta’s finance function transformed starting with process standardization (2016-2018), moving to automation (2018-2021), then integrating machine learning models and predictive analytics (2021-2024), developing a comprehensive data strategy (2024), and planning to deploy agentic AI from 2025 onward.[3]
With experience in AI deployment comes the ability to evaluate its benefits and challenges. Finance leaders often have a better capacity to estimate return on investment, avoid designing vanity metrics, and decide whether to “pull the plug” on projects in progress.
Third, the finance function serves as the main artery of any organization, facilitating the flow of critical data, capital, and strategic insights essential for sustained growth. As guardians of this vital flow, CFOs are uniquely positioned to evaluate the transformative potential of AI, considering its risks and benefits not just in terms of cost savings or efficiency but also in its ability to reshape the organization’s strategic landscape. Therefore, the CFO’s office is best suited to guide the use of AI to enhance how the company competes and operates. Unsurprisingly, 87% of CFOs report much greater involvement in digital transformation efforts compared to three years ago.[4]
With New Power Comes Great Responsibility
As CFOs become more involved in guiding enterprise strategy and digital modernization alongside their traditional roles as stewards and operators, they now face a wider range of risks and challenges. Besides meeting revenue and profit targets and ensuring compliance, finance leaders must also focus on upskilling current staff in AI, data quality, and real-time data access; managing legacy IT systems and infrastructures; and handling AI governance. Simultaneously, they are expected to deliver a return on investment within tight timelines: 83% of surveyed CFOs said they had to provide evidence of returns within 12 months to justify continued investment in AI, underscoring the high stakes and immediate expectations for AI-driven projects.[5]
The New Job
As the CFO role expands to include technology and strategy, the skill set needed for finance teams is changing. Technical accounting and finance knowledge now only forms the basics. Leaders prepared for the future must have data fluency and AI literacy: 51% of CFOs ranked data analytics and digital fluency as the top skills for success, but “only” 49% ranked risk and compliance expertise as the most important. Meta’s outlined career progression in the finance team further illustrates this evolution, with advancement starting with Processors (manual task execution), moving up to Analysts (data interpretation and insight generation), and finally Architects (designers of systems and AI solutions).
For the finance leaders themselves, in order to be in the best position to drive company-wide transformation, their roles must expand to integrate the following five attributes to align with the demands of today’s (and tomorrow’s) dynamic business needs:[6]
- The Entrepreneur: Understands market trends and introduces new ideas to gain a competitive edge and promote a proactive risk management culture;
- The Expert: Serves as a trusted advisor, providing specialized data to achieve positive business outcomes through advanced analytics;
- The Storyteller: Explains and communicates complex data clearly to enhance understanding of operational performance and product profitability;
- The Strategist: Seeks to drive growth opportunities by aligning customer needs with commercial considerations;
- The Challenger: Challenges the status quo to find better ways forward for the organization.
Ready Now for the Future
Rather than solely the protector of the balance sheet or enforcer of regulatory compliance, the CFO is now recognized as the architect of future value. CFOs – and their teams – are entering a pivotal stage where technology, risk, and strategic accountability are central to daily decision-making. Being “future-ready” no longer simply means agility to plan, forecast, and respond to sudden market changes. Finance leaders are now playing the role of performance and transformation orchestrators, aligning technology, talent, and data to ensure their organizations thrive in an increasingly dynamic environment.
About the Author
Terence Tse is Professor of Finance at Hult International Business School and co-founder at the AI Native Foundation. He is also co-founder and Executive Director of Nexus FrontierTech.
References
[1] 2026 Future Ready CFO Report, Wolters Kluwer, (2026)
[2] The four faces of the CFO, Deloitte, (2025)
[3] Presentation at the 3rd Annual AI for CFOs by Majella Mungovan, Vice President, Global Finance, Meta (2026)
[4] Beyond the balance sheet: The new CFO mandate, Economist Impact and SAP, (2025)
[5] Ibid
[6] The Future of the CFO, KPMG, 2025
