Generative AI can help Finance and Accounting professionals

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the ability to completely transform finance and accounting (F&A) by raising efficiency, speeding up corporate outcomes, and optimizing strategy. Today’s F&A professionals may reap the benefits of developments like conversational AI and generative AI, allowing them to concentrate on higher-value tasks and make data-driven judgments based on market trends and historical data.

With its team of F&A experts, IBM Consulting recognizes the transformative power of generative AI in F&A and the need to balance risks. They emphasize the importance of proper training of AI models by F&A professionals in collaboration with IT peers to ensure accurate and reliable results. Transparency and continuous evaluation are key factors in implementing AI-driven workflows securely.

A report published by IBM’s Institute for Business Value (IBV) suggests implementing secure, AI-first intelligent workflows as organizations face accelerating tech-led disruptions driven by generative AI. Prioritizing F&A use cases for augmentation with new foundation models requires a balance across precision, risk, stakeholder expectations, and return on investment (ROI).

The potential impact of generative AI in F&A is significant, with executives expecting 48% of staff across organizations (including 34% of finance staff) to leverage generative AI within the next year, as revealed by an IBM study.

When applying generative AI in F&A, there are three key considerations to keep in mind. First, maintaining human accountability and validation is crucial as generative AI models summarize and generate narratives around financial performance. Second, applying the controllership lens is essential to manage risks and ensure accuracy and completeness of inputs and outputs. Finally, fostering internal business partnerships is necessary, as analysis and reporting will be heavily impacted, and self-serve solutions will increase. It is important to establish trust and collaboration between Finance and other business units.

IBM Consulting’s F&A practitioners can offer valuable insights and best practices as organizations adopt generative AI technology. With extensive experience in infusing generative AI and classical machine learning AI strategies, IBM Consulting has worked with numerous clients to enhance critical F&A functions and improve operational efficiency.

By embracing generative AI, finance professionals can unlock new opportunities for strategic planning, analysis, and decision-making, leading to improved outcomes and efficiency in finance operations.