Key Findings

  • A recent survey by enterprise software provider OneStream shows that 47% of finance and technology executives have made decisions based on inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated financial data in the past year."significant" business decisions。
  • Over 70% of respondents said poor data has caused their organizations losses of at least $500,000; 37% reported losses exceeding $1 million. OneStream noted that these findings indicate that as AI deployment in financial operations expands, companies face urgent pressure to strengthen data governance.
  • "Unless companies have trustworthy data, AI will only accelerate and amplify poor decisions," said OneStream CEO Tom Shea in the announcement.

Deeper Insights

The research comes as Gartner forecasts globalAI spending will surge to $2.5 trillion by 2026, highlighting that companies are rapidly expanding their investment in the technology.

Another survey by financial software company Basware, released in February, found that nearly 45% of CFOs feel pressure from leadership to "do something with AI," with about 60% of them deploying AI agents to test their capabilities. Basware said in a press release at the time that most finance leaders "admit they are primarily experimenting with the technology, flying blind when it comes to putting it into practice and achieving ROI."

OneStream found that younger executives (ages 25-44) are heavier adopters of AI, with 82% reporting using three or more AI tools for decision-making, compared to 69% among more experienced peers. They also face higher risks: more than half (51%) reported making significant decisions based on incorrect data, compared to 39% among older leaders.

According to OneStream's report, about 80% of leaders said their data governance frameworks are sufficient to support large-scale AI adoption, and 85% said they have formal governance programs in place or in progress. However, nearly two-thirds (61%) of respondents said they question their data at least monthly.

"Every generation of finance leaders must first earn trust in their data before acting on it," said Pam McIntyre, Chief Accounting Officer at OneStream, in the press release. "What's different now is that AI has dramatically compressed that timeline, and the margin for error has shrunk accordingly."

OneStream surveyed more than 350 senior finance and decision-makers from the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.