A guide to artificial intelligence for new CFOs

A practical checklist of must-have ai automations for every CFO

ai is influencing the way business leaders reimagine their team’s daily tasks, company processes, and resource allocation. Automating repeatable manual tasks has been the biggest application of various ai tools. However, with a shift towards workflow automation, the application of ai goes beyond automating specific tasks but automating entire workflows including accounts payable, accounts receivable, financial close, financial reporting, and audits. The benefits of leveraging ai can go a long way in achieving greater efficiency while keeping costs under control.

Process automation remains a top priority for most CFOs in their first 100 days on the job. To get a comprehensive view of the various financial processes and automation solutions available, we’ve put together this checklist that can help you stay on top of those ai tools.

Let's dive into it

1. ERP Selection – Selecting the right ERP based on your organization's needs is critical. Below is a checklist of tips to help you identify the right ERP based on your company's size:

ERP system mapping by company size

1. Processing invoices and receipts – configure real-time data extraction from invoices, receipts and purchase orders in different formats using OCR and enter the data into any ERP
   1. Nanonetworks
   2. ai/” rel=”noreferrer”>rossum
   3. ABBYY Flexible Capture
   4. Tungsten Automation
2. Bank reconciliation – automate data extraction from different bank statements and automatically reconcile transactions with various financial documents, including journal entries, vendor statements, and invoices
   1. Nanonetworks
   2. Black line
   3. FloQast
   4. Trintech
3. Journal entries – Save time and minimize errors from manual entries by automating journal entries by directly linking the accounting database to invoices, bank statements, etc.
   1. Nanonetworks
   2. Black line
   3. FloQast
   4. Trintech
4. Accounts receivable – reduce manual effort and improve cash flow management using ai tools that accelerate cash conversion cycles and provide real-time insights into accounts receivable
   1. High radius
   2. YayPay
   3. the midwife
   4. BlackLine AR Automation
5. Expense audits – Identify policy violations and generate real-time analytical reports for seamless expense auditing
   1. AppZen
   2. Surveillance
   3. Coupa Spend Guard
   4. tipalti
6. Financial planning and analysis – Automate financial planning and evaluation, including budgeting, forecasting, and financial reporting, by leveraging these ai tools:

Leveraging ai-powered automation is essential for new CFOs to improve efficiency, accuracy, and strategic decision-making. This guide covers crucial tools for automating key financial processes, from ERP selection to invoice processing, bank reconciliation, accounting entries, accounts receivable, expense audits, and financial planning. By adopting these ai-powered solutions, CFOs can reduce manual effort, minimize errors, and gain real-time financial insights, allowing them to focus on strategic growth. This checklist provides a practical roadmap for harnessing the potential of ai in transforming financial management.