In today’s world, managers are overwhelmed by a flood of information about AI. It is clear that AI will impact various business processes, and finance is no exception. In the following summary, you will get an overview of how AI can be used in different finance departments of a company.

1. accounting

• Accounting data from unstructured text. A common problem in accounting are documents with a format or structure that prevents automatic posting. By simply copying the document into ChatGPT and requesting “Create a CSV file with the following columns from the text”, users receive structured data in the desired format. Certain AI tools specialize in processing certain types of documents, such as receipts, and execute posting transactions by processing photos of the documents.
• Accounts payable and accounts receivable. AI extracts data from invoices, verifies invoices and manages the approval process. The automatic allocation of bank payments to individual invoices is also possible. While large companies have recognized the potential for automation in this area for years, AI now makes it possible to integrate all steps into an automated chain, leaving the accountant responsible for monitoring and control.
• Account reconciliation with business partners. AI-supported chatbots can partially or fully automate the process of reconciling accounts with debtors or creditors, while personal contact remains necessary only in exceptional cases.

2. controlling

• Budgeting, forecasting, reporting. The use of AI offers enormous potential in this area. AI can take over the creation of reports, forecasts and budgets in real time, as the automation of processes in the company generates a large amount of data that can be analyzed by AI. An important task for a CFO is to identify the data areas that are best suited for AI, or to set an ambitious goal of completely eliminating the manual creation of controlling reports.
• Analyzing investment decisions. Certain AI tools can assist in the comparative analysis of investment opportunities in order to make well-founded decisions. Analyzing the stock market is also possible today with AI.
• Excel know-how. ChatGPT can significantly improve Excel reports by providing ready-made VBA codes or customizing formulas.

3. audit

• Preparation for financial and compliance audits. AI can take over certain records and audit trails to help identify data anomalies that could indicate errors or financial fraud.

4. office communication

• Emails. AI can capture, reply to or summarize emails to keep the inbox under control.
• Internal policies. Employees can use a corporate chatbot to quickly access specific internal policies instead of searching for them on the intranet.

The above examples make it clear that CFOs and finance managers should also get to grips with AI in order to keep pace with the times.