As finance executives are asked to lead challenges beyond traditional finance—including technology, legal, and operations—they are forced to confront their own limitations in time and knowledge. BILL Holdings CFO Rohini Jain is leveraging artificial intelligence to break through these constraints.

"When I joined BILL, there were many parts of being a CFO that I needed to learn and grow into, and without AI, I might have struggled significantly," Jain said in an interview with CFO Dive. According to its website, the San Jose, California-based company provides tools for small and medium-sized businesses for procurement, accounts payable, and accounts receivable.

A CFO needs to quickly acquire information and adapt to responsibilities in a new role. With AI, "I don't need to ask anyone, take a course, or spend two years doing a job to learn—I can truly achieve deep learning," she said. "Having an accelerated learning curve and being willing to learn in any form, in any way, will be crucial for the next generation of CFOs."

Fostering deeper communication

As an experienced finance professional, Jain joined the financial operations platform in July as part of several leadership changes at BILL, according to a company press release.

Before joining BILL, she spent nearly a decade at payment processor PayPal, holding various finance roles, including senior vice president and CFO of enterprise business and merchant platforms. According to her LinkedIn profile, she previously served as senior director of finance (FP&A) at Walmart eCommerce and held various positions at eBay and General Electric.

For Jain, one of AI's core advantages is freeing up more valuable time for finance executives. Especially as a CFO at a public company, "your time demands grow exponentially," she said. "So, how do you step back temporarily to understand what matters most?"

Effectively using AI can free up time for finance leaders and their teams to focus on strategic goals. For example, the technology can help CFOs handle increasingly large volumes of data and turn information not just into insights, "but into actions," Jain said.

The tool can also foster better communication. While technology may not change the narrative finance executives present to boards or investors, "with AI, I now have more tools to understand potential reactions and how my messaging is being received," Jain said.

The AI learning curve

Jain's deep dive into AI comes as the shape and responsibilities of the finance function continue to evolve, with technological acumen and related skills growing in importance.

Jain reflected on her decision to join eBay as an example of how she previously honed her technical skills. She joined as director of global product and technology finance and director of shipping finance and analytics. One reason she accepted the role was "because even then I thought, 'Okay, the next generation of CFOs must understand big data,'" she said.

"So I led large analytics teams and learned how to do it. What I want to emphasize is that you have to be open to learning things that weren't part of your upbringing," Jain said. "That's a very important part of finance work."

Jain extends this philosophy to BILL, where she is building the finance team, looking not just for "traditional finance talent, but also people capable of working with big data, writing queries, and driving insights," she said.

These represent "very different skill sets and mindsets," Jain said. "One is more problem-solving oriented, the other more portfolio management oriented. But how do you start building a team with a mix of skills so they can collaborate and learn from each other?"

This broad skill set is crucial because BILL is seeking to expand its product suite: for example, on October 28, the company announced two AI agent solutions for small and medium-sized businesses to assist with reconciliation and W-9 form filing. As the company grows, Jain is leveraging her experience at large enterprises to bring more structure to the business, she said.

"Sometimes, when you're doing too many things in too short a time, how do you build a structure to make it more impactful?" she said. Before she joined as CFO, the company "was already on a journey toward a certain product structure, having people own product outcomes end-to-end," Jain said, and she continues to drive that process after taking the top finance seat.