A new report shows that 58% of finance professionals view artificial intelligence (AI) as essential to their work, yet only 39% feel confident using the technology. The findings of the The AI Confidence Crisis in Corporate Finance highlight a growing confidence gap, as many finance teams struggle to move from experimentation to adoption due to trust, training, and resource barriers. The report was commissioned by insightsoftware.
Nearly one in five finance professionals (17%) cite limited time or resources to learn new tools as the top roadblocks to AI adoption. Another 21% hesitate to use AI due to concerns around data accuracy and privacy. Larger organizations, in particular, face complex change management challenges, with 18% of finance professionals at companies with more than 10,000 employees stating they are not using advanced AI tools at all. This underscores how scale can slow momentum.
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“Over the past several years, we’ve been taught to believe that the real value of AI is automation – but that’s just one part of the equation,” said Josh Schauer, Chief Financial Officer at insightsoftware. “The real ROI on AI investments is when the technology empowers teams to spend their time and mindshare on more strategic work. By unlocking new insights and saving time, AI becomes a catalyst for innovation, fueling better decisions, more accurate forecasts, and stronger business performance.”
The insightsoftware report outlines actionable steps for finance leaders to close the AI confidence gap. This includes:
- Investing in training and upskilling programs that combine technical and cultural change.
- Building governance frameworks that ensure transparency, accuracy, and trust.
- Empowering early adopters to serve as internal champions driving grassroots momentum.
When companies commit to AI adoption at scale, forecasting accuracy can improve by 57%, while manual reporting drops by 42%. Organizations that close the AI confidence gap will unlock not just efficiency gains, but a future where finance teams lead innovation with trust and clarity.
The findings are based on insightsoftware’s 2025 Office of the CFO Survey, which gathered insights from 439 finance professionals across organizations with more than 500 employees between May and June 2025.
Download the full AI Confidence Crisis in Corporate Finance report here to explore how finance leaders can build trust in AI, accelerate adoption, and drive measurable performance gains.
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