From Lightweight ChatGPT Trials to Cautious AI Adoption: A CFO's Transformation Journey
In an article, Josh Schauer, CFO of insightsoftware, points out that the finance industry is at an inflection point of AI transformation, yet only 39% of finance teams are confident in actually using AI. Drawing on his own shift from lightly experimenting with ChatGPT in 2022 to using it as a thought partner, he illustrates AI's value in boosting efficiency and freeing up human capacity, while stressing that human judgment, ethics, and accountability remain irreplaceable. The article also shares the challenges he faces as a CFO in quantifying ROI and governance considerations when evaluating AI investments.
Editor's Note:Josh Schauer is the CFO of insightsoftware, a company headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina. The company provides financial reporting software and offers AI application consulting for finance and accounting professionals. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
The finance industry is at an inflection point. AI is reshaping how organizations plan, report, and make critical business decisions. However, although most finance teams acknowledge AI's potential impact, according to a report released by insightsoftware on October 30, 2025 (PDF link), only 39% of teams say they are confident in actually using the technology. Many teams are concerned about security, ethics, and data quality issues, while others are unsure how to integrate AI into their daily work.
The true value of AI lies not in accessing information itself, but in improving efficiency and gaining new insights. Contrary to popular belief, the technology is most powerful when it augments human intelligence rather than replacing it.
Technology alone will not reshape the future of work
Despite the ongoing debate around "humans vs. AI," technology itself will not reshape the future of work. Instead, the future of work will be shaped by humans who know how to collaborate with technology.
I witnessed this shift firsthand when ChatGPT launched in 2022. Like many others, I initially tested it with some lighthearted questions, just to understand its capabilities. But curiosity quickly evolved into practical application. I began using it as a thought partner, uploading complete and accurate datasets and asking it to flag discrepancies, compare benchmark performance, and identify patterns that would have taken hours to spot manually. What started as experimentation became an accelerator for insights—it didn't replace analysts, but elevated their output.
Consider today's finance professionals: they must navigate increasingly complex regulatory requirements while also handling close, consolidation, planning, and disclosure, and serving as strategic advisors to the business. They cover a vast amount of ground, yet are weighed down by manual processes that limit their impact. AI offers a way to break this cycle.
Algorithms can outperform humans in speed, accuracy, and scale. They can automate data reconciliation, journal entry validation, and variance analysis—repetitive tasks that consume hours each week. By handling these tasks, AI frees up valuable time and energy for finance teams, allowing them to focus on more strategic work.
In our finance team, we've seen tangible time savings. Month-end variance analysis used to require extensive Excel modeling and manual reconciliation. Now, analysts can upload complex datasets and have AI identify changes between versions and key drivers in a fraction of the time. Tasks that once took two days now take just two hours. That time and effort hasn't been eliminated—it's been redirected. Our team spends less time building spreadsheets and more time interpreting results and advising the business.
What AI cannot replace is human judgment. Technology lacks the empathy, ethics, and contextual understanding needed to drive business decisions. As AI takes over routine and repetitive tasks, soft skills such as critical thinking, ethical reasoning, and emotional intelligence become even more important. The future belongs to finance professionals who can apply their expertise and experience to the time and insights AI provides.
Building trust in human-machine collaboration
The most effective finance teams treat AI as a teammate, not as something to run on autopilot. As stated in my company's publication, "AI in Finance & Accounting For Dummies," AI creates value by handling scale, speed, and pattern recognition, while humans are responsible for judgment, ethics, and accountability. Trust is built when finance leaders are transparent about how AI works, clearly define its limitations, and intentionally maintain human involvement in high-impact decisions. When these expectations are set in advance, AI becomes an accelerator for better decisions, rather than a source of risk or skepticism.
As CFO of insightsoftware, building this trust requires discipline. AI is an investment, and quantifying ROI early on isn't straightforward. Productivity gains, roadmap acceleration, and improved response times don't always fit neatly into a spreadsheet. At one point, we had multiple teams piloting overlapping AI tools. We had to step back and assess: Were we buying capabilities we could soon build ourselves? Were we locking into multi-year contracts for features that could quickly become commoditized? This process reshaped how I evaluate emerging technologies, balancing calculated risk with governance and long-term value creation.
In contrast, I see many companies making heavy investments in AI but lacking the leadership alignment, workforce strategy, and internal skills to scale successfully and demonstrate ROI. Instead, their strategy should move forward based on a simple fact: an organization's ability to transform depends on its people.