Chief financial officers are in a surprisingly good mood to start out the yr and expect corporations to be using artificial intelligence (AI) most frequently, in keeping with a brand new survey of chief financial officers (CFOs) by tax and advisory firm Grant Thorton.
It was not way back that record inflation and rising rates of interest fueled dire predictions of a recession. Now, about one-third of CFOs surveyed for the primary quarter of 2024 say they’re optimistic concerning the U.S. economy.
The 34% “very optimistic” mark is an 11-quarter high within the survey, and the 12% who’re pessimistic ties a previous result for an 11-quarter low, says Grant Thorton.
Meanwhile, the survey of 273 senior U.S. finance leaders from across the industry spectrum continues to indicate their strong confidence in meeting their labor needs, satisfying increased demand and controlling costs.
How CFOs see teams using AI
Increasing the dimensions and scope of AI can be top of mind with CFOs. The portion of respondents using generative artificial intelligence (AI) is at an all-time high (47%). This may occasionally be related to a jump of 10 percentage points within the portion of CFOs who say they expect their cybersecurity costs to extend, says the firm.
CFOs plan to proceed increasing their spending on IT/digital transformation (55%, up from 49% in 2023 Q4) and cybersecurity (55%, up from 45% in 2023 Q4).
“In our tax service line, we’re finding that while budgets could also be constrained, there’s an openness and even a willingness amongst clients to spend money on our focused processes and technologies that result in greater efficiencies,” said Jim Wittner, national managing partner, tax growth at Grant Thorton. “Which will hold true throughout other business functions as well.”
Ensuring responsible use of AI
CFOs are also gearing up to make sure their organizations use technology responsibly. Of the CFOs who’re using generative AI, a record high 64% have established clearly defined acceptable use policies. As well as, 64% have defined and monitored the risks related to this transformative technology, says Grant Thorton.
Specific findings included CFOs responding that their respective organizations are using AI for:
- AI for data analytics and business intelligence (66%)
- Financial operations and processes (54%)
- Cybersecurity and risk management (47%)
- Customer relationship management/customer experience (45%)
- Product/service development (37%)
“Corporations are using this technology internally before deploying it in customer-facing processes since it’s easier to manage internally,” said Grant Thornton CFO advisory national managing principal Paul Melville. “In the event that they roll technology out to their customers and something goes flawed, then it’s tougher to administer.”
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