The CFO's AI Playbook

1

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LEADING AND LAGGING

The CFO's AI Playbook 20 Things Every Finance Leader Must Know in 2025

JJ Shay | Global Gauntlet AI

2 01 — THE MOMENT

AI Adoption Has Plateaued.

Opportunity Hasn't.

59%

of finance functions use AI in 2025 Up from 58% in 2024. Just 1% growth.

37%

58%

59%

??%

2023

2024

2025

Your Move

67% of adopters are MORE optimistic than last year Source: Gartner 2025 AI in Finance Survey

JJ Shay | Global Gauntlet AI

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3 02 — THE INVESTMENT

CFOs Are Betting Big on AI

94%

79%

BELIEVE AI WILL BENEFIT FINANCE

AI BUDGET INCREASE 2025

In the next 12 months

Over 2024 levels

44%

71%

USING AI FOR 5+ USE CASES

INCREASING INVESTMENT 10%+

Up from 7% last year

of CFOs this year

Sources: Bain Capital Ventures, McKinsey, Gartner 2025

JJ Shay | Global Gauntlet AI

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4 03 — THE WARNING

The Perception Gap That Could Sink Your AI Strategy

CFOs SAY

51%

CONTROLLERS SAY

VS

"We have fully adopted AI"

19% "We have fully adopted AI"

32pt GAP

Reality check: Teams still export spreadsheets, fix data manually, and stitch together numbers before AI can begin.

JJ Shay | Global Gauntlet AI

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5 04 — THE USE CASES

Where AI Delivers Real Value Today

Financial Reporting 77%

Process Automation 66%

Knowledge Management 58%

Risk Management 45%

TOP WINS: • Error & Anomaly Detection: 15% reduction in risk incidents • AP Automation: Invoice processing, payment routing • Fraud prevention, reconciliation, compliance flags

JJ Shay | Global Gauntlet AI

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6 05 — THE ROI

The Numbers CFOs Actually Need

136%

AP AUTOMATION ROI $1.36M return for every $1M invested over 3 years

30%

Report production time cut

20%

Forecast accuracy improvement

80%

Invoice processing effort reduced

90%

Reporting errors eliminated

Time to value: Companies seeing ROI within months, not years Sources: Basware AI to ROI Report, McKinsey CFO Survey, SoftCo 2025

JJ Shay | Global Gauntlet AI

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7 06 — THE COST TRAP

CFOs Underestimate AI Costs by

500-1000% HIDDEN COSTS CFOs MISS

Integration & Legacy Systems 60% say ERPs aren't AI-ready

Data Preparation & Quality Garbage in, garbage out still applies

Training & Change Management Staff need 3-6 months to adapt

Ongoing Maintenance & Updates AI models need constant tuning

Source: Gartner Research, CFO.com 2025

JJ Shay | Global Gauntlet AI

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8 07 — THE SOBERING TRUTH

95%

of Enterprise AI Initiatives Fail

WHAT THE 5% DO DIFFERENTLY

1

Human Enablement First AI augments humans, doesn't replace them. Train your people.

2

Strategic Alignment AI initiatives tied to specific business outcomes, not tech for tech's sake.

3

Disciplined Execution Governance frameworks, clear KPIs, phased rollouts.

Bottom line: Winners focus on value from Day 1 Source: MIT Study 2025, World Economic Forum

JJ Shay | Global Gauntlet AI

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9 08 — THE PLAYBOOK

Start Small. Scale Fast.

82%

of CFOs who started small scaled up within 6 months

01

02

03

Pick ONE Process

Prove the ROI

Scale Company-Wide

Invoice processing is the top choice

Document time & cost savings

Use success to justify expansion

Pro tip: 50% of CFOs will cut AI investment if no ROI within 12 months Sources: Accenture 2025, Basware AI to ROI Report

JJ Shay | Global Gauntlet AI

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10 09 — THE QUICK WINS

3 AI Wins You Can Deploy This Quarter 1

Invoice Automation Tools: UiPath, Kofax, ABBYY ✓ Fastest ROI, lowest risk

2

Financial Forecasting Tools: Pigment, Anaplan, Planful ✓ 20% accuracy improvement

3

Fraud Detection Tools: DataRobot, SAS, Featurespace ✓ Real-time anomaly detection

JJ Shay | Global Gauntlet AI

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11 10 — THE TALENT GAP

AI Isn't a Job Killer— It's a Job Changer

72%

of professionals now use AI at work

60%

say AI makes work more creative

WHERE SAVED TIME GOES: • Higher-level client work • Strengthening relationships • Expanding networks

CFO hiring priority: 30% prioritizing data/AI skills over technical accounting

JJ Shay | Global Gauntlet AI

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12 11 — THE FRAMEWORK

Governance First. Then Deploy.

THE 4 ESSENTIAL PILLARS

01 Data Quality

02 Clear Ownership

Clean, validated, centralized data before AI

Who decides what, who's accountable

03 Risk Framework

04 Success Metrics

Bias detection, audit trails, compliance

KPIs tied to business outcomes

WITHOUT GOVERNANCE: Cost overruns • Compliance failures • Suboptimal outcomes • Reputational damage

JJ Shay | Global Gauntlet AI

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13 12 — THE EVOLUTION

From Steward to Strategic Leader

YESTERDAY'S CFO

TOMORROW'S CFO

• Spreadsheet manager

✓ Strategic decision-maker

• Cost controller

→

✓ Innovation driver

• Backward-looking

✓ Forward-looking predictor

• Back-office function

✓ Business partner

"We are using AI to empower our teams to become strategic partners..."

— Marie Myers, CFO, HPE

JJ Shay | Global Gauntlet AI

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14 13 — THE RISK

AI Is a Double-Edged Sword

78%

of CFOs concerned about cybersecurity threats in 2025

TOP RISKS TO MANAGE

Data Security & Privacy Sensitive financial data exposed to AI systems

AI-Powered Fraud Deepfakes, phishing, transaction manipulation

Errors & Hallucinations AI making confident but incorrect decisions

38%

Undecided on AI risk vs reward

JJ Shay | Global Gauntlet AI

50%

Use unapproved AI tools

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15 14 — THE TIME DIVIDEND

Reclaim 15-20 Hours Every Week

20-30% less time on data crunching More time on strategy

The payoff: Finance pros freed from manual tasks Sources: McKinsey, Tipalti Research, Sthambh 2025

JJ Shay | Global Gauntlet AI

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16 15 — THE INTEGRATION CRISIS

Your ERP Probably Isn't Ready

60%

say their ERP systems can't support modern AI tools

THE PATH FORWARD • 62% prioritizing ERP modernization • Cloud-first platforms enabling AI integration • 50% planning ERP upgrades • API-first architecture wins

Reality: GenAI won't fix ERP issues or solve data quality problems.

Foundation first.

JJ Shay | Global Gauntlet AI

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17 16 — THE PARTNERSHIP

AI Augments. It Doesn't Replace.

AI EXCELS AT

HUMANS EXCEL AT

✓ Processing massive data sets

✓ Strategic judgment

✓ Pattern recognition

✓ Relationship building

✓ Repetitive calculations

✓ Contextual understanding

✓ 24/7 monitoring

✓ Ethical decision-making

✓ Anomaly detection

✓ Creative problem-solving

AI + HUMANS = FINANCE SUPERPOWER 82% of AI-generated work quality is at least as good as human work. But humans validate.

JJ Shay | Global Gauntlet AI

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18 17 — THE ACTION PLAN

Your 90-Day AI Roadmap

Days 1-30

Days 31-60

Days 61-90

ASSESS

PILOT

MEASURE

• Audit current AI usage

• Select ONE pilot process

• Document time savings

• Identify quick-win processes

• Choose vendor/tool

• Calculate actual ROI

• Assess data quality

• Set governance guardrails

• Gather team feedback

• Survey team readiness

• Train pilot team

• Present to leadership

• Set 3 measurable goals

• Define success metrics

• Plan next pilot

Remember: 82% who start small scale within 6 months

JJ Shay | Global Gauntlet AI

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19 18 — THE SUMMARY

What Every CFO Must Remember Adoption has plateaued at 59% Window of competitive advantage is NOW

95% of initiatives fail Winners focus on humans, strategy, execution

ROI is real: 136% over 3 years But underestimating costs by 500-1000% is common

Governance before deployment Data quality + ownership + risk framework + KPIs

Start small, scale fast 82% who pilot successfully scale within 6 months

AI augments, doesn't replace Human judgment + AI power = Finance superpower

The question isn't IF you'll adopt AI. It's HOW FAST you'll do it right.

JJ Shay | Global Gauntlet AI

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20

The Best Time to Start

Was Yesterday.

The Second Best Time Is Now.

79%

136%

90

Increasing AI budgets

ROI achievable

Days to first win

Connect with me to discuss your AI strategy JJ Shay | Global Gauntlet AI

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