It is impressive how quickly the principle of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) seems to be spreading around. This momentum is not surprising — AI has already demonstrated significant benefits, enhancing forecast and budget accuracy while drastically reducing processing time.

Reducing the duration of the budgeting process has long been a priority for CFOs. Yet, achieving an optimal approach has remained elusive. AI brings a solution to this dilemma.

This is why 52% of US companies surveyed in a recent study (1) are already using AI for Financial Planning, 26% are conducting a pilot on this topic, and 17% are planning to do so. Companies with no plan on this subject represent … only 6%!

Still, let’s be cautious about those numbers. Or add more numbers.

From the same survey, we learn about barriers to adopting AI: limited AI skills and knowledge is mentioned by 49% of the companies surveyed, high implementation costs by 48% and staff resistance by 29%. My topic is about this last one: Resistance to change.

This article actually advises those of you who are considering implementing AI to build your company's forecast or budget.

Ironically, your main challenge may not be Technology but… Human Intelligence!

With the right AI specialists, you can build reliable models and achieve strong results. Hiring experts and securing a budget may be difficult, but these are solvable issues with proper planning and financial resources. The main challenge, the one linked to Human Intelligence, is much more tricky and profound. You can’t resolve it with algorithms nor with a procedure. You need to go deeper and enter the world of…emotions!  

The problem that you will face is a natural resistance from part of your organisation. And this can become a serious roadblock when you decide to roll out. Resistance will come from those who are uncomfortable with your project, those whom your project will make feel nervous, anxious or even panicked. Behind it, there is one main emotion: fear.

Fear of the “AI black box”, fear of losing control over a well-known budget process, fear not being able to explain numbers generated by algorithms…or even fear that AI will take their jobs!  

Human nature responds predictably to fear — through avoidance, hesitation or overthinking. When AI is introduced, these reactions manifest as resistance to change. Some colleagues may even express anger, leading to passive-aggressive behaviour or outright opposition. So be ready.

And be aware that it has nothing to do with the quality of your project. It is just a natural human reaction.

I recently had the opportunity to collect feedback from CFOs about the perspective of using AI to help build their Rolling Forecast or their budget. The subject was always presented the same way to each of them. And they all reacted differently! I quoted some of them during my participation in an FP&A Trends Circle session: from the enthusiastic innovator (“I would implement AI immediately if I could!”) to the cautious late adopter (“I prefer to let other companies test it before (…) and when it will be robust and popular, then I will go for it”). One even strongly rejected the concept (“If one of my finance controllers would use AI to build his forecast, I would fire him immediately!”).

Back to your project. If you move forward, expect diverse reactions across all levels of your organisation. To succeed, the only way is to build a robust plan that considers this human factor.

Your main challenge will be to create a movement, a “wave of change” that will spread from the office of your CEO to the controlling team located in a faraway continent, from the young graduate who joined the company 2 weeks ago to the Senior Finance Director who has been following the same budget process for the past 15 years. It is not an easy task, but it is feasible. And if you decide NOT to take enough into consideration this human factor… you just increase the probability of failing!

For sure, Change Management is not something new. It is probably as old as humanity itself.  

• How do you succeed when you want to bring a big change (and AI in FP&A is a real BIG CHANGE) within an organisation?
• If you are a Group CFO, how do you convince your CEO that from now on, the budget of the Company should be prepared by … algorithms?
• And how do you explain to your Finance teams that what they have been doing for years will now be produced by a sophisticated AI program? 

While Change Management is not new, and its recipes are well-known, AI in FP&A requires leveraging every available tool from the change management playbook. If you are the project leader, I can only advise you to learn how it works. Read books by Daniel Goleman about emotional intelligence or “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell. Study the “Atlas of Emotions” by Paul Ekman… Include in your project one workstream fully dedicated to Change Management. This is key.

AI in Financial Planning is amazing. I can testify that it can produce outstanding results. Implementation is definitely a challenging journey, but it is worth the effort.

In the automotive industry, where I spent most of my career, we love the concept of “kaizen”. Kaizen approach can be very appropriate to implementing AI in FP&A: start small, with small steps every day, small positive changes that will eventually produce a virtuous movement of continuous improvement. This is a safe approach, which can also make you save money and time!

Once again, Change Management is a well-known subject, but it is crucial to our specific topic. AI implementation is not only reshaping the way organisations operate but also, to some extent, the roles and responsibilities of many of your colleagues. So, it is very important to act subtly when introducing this new way of working in your company. There are many best practices in Change Management, and to succeed, you will need to apply most of them. 

To summarise:

• Start small
• Take the Change Management topic very seriously
• Then move forward! It is worth it!

And feel free to reach out if needed.   

(1) Ai-in-finance-us-report-dec-2024.pdf

This survey focuses on US companies, 70% of which generate over $10 billion in revenue. This may explain why AI adoption rates reported here are higher than those consolidated in the 2024 FP&A Trends Group Survey, which gathers results from a broader range of companies worldwide. The latest survey reveals that 6% are currently using AI in FP&A, 15% plan to adopt it within six months, and 44% have longer-term plans to do so. The US seems to be leading the race!