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As CFO, how does Supervising AI Agents really fit into the overall financial data gathering and reporting lifecycle (and what about security) for the Finance Team?

Ask Yourself: Honestly ask yourself with the office door closed, “What’s holding me and my team back from innovating in this space?”

Before Starting:

Focus on your strengths. You’ve navigated complex financial landscapes before. Trust your expertise to adapt to this new frontier. (If you like Sensitivity Analysis and Big Data, you will love what is coming next…)
Embrace a learning mindset. AI is evolving rapidly. Be open to continuous learning alongside your AI tools. (Keep this in a customer and business context, and you won’t be bored.)
Prioritize human oversight. AI is powerful, but it’s not infallible. (see “AI hallucinations”) Maintain human oversight for critical financial decisions. (Pro-Tip: Consider later naming the AI Agents as avatars and assigning them to “report to” your human leaders. Your org. chart is about to look very interesting!)

Starting:

Clearly define roles. Set clear boundaries between human and AI responsibilities. (Pro-Tip: Document these differences; RACI still works with hybrid teams. And AI can help with the documentation as well.)
Invest in explainable AI. Understand how AI arrives at its conclusions to build trust with your team. (Pro-tip: Document the main decision logic or criteria so all understand the scoreboard.)
Communicate transparently. Keep stakeholders informed about AI’s role in financial processes. (Pro-Tip: Later, you’ll loop in Compliance and Legal into the conversation when ready to draft AI policies for governance.)

Strategies:

Focus on simple repetitive tasks first then complex repetitive tasks. Automate routine financial processes to free up human bandwidth for strategic thinking. (Pro-Tip: If a large portion of tasks in departments are unique, you’ve got some pre-work to do such as Six Sigma first.)
Leverage AI for risk assessment. Utilize AI’s ability to analyze vast amounts of data to identify and mitigate financial risks. (Pro-Tip: Teach others how you think about data so they train agents to enable insights not just information.)
Enhance financial forecasting. Use AI to generate more accurate and nuanced financial forecasts. (Pro-Tip: Learn to use it for management accounting for a holistic view across all business units (will save that one for another article!)

Warnings:

Don’t outsource core decision-making. AI is a powerful tool, but human judgment remains essential for complex financial choices.
Beware of bias in AI algorithms. Be mindful of potential bias in AI models and actively mitigate it.
Prioritize data security. Ensure the integrity and security of the data entrusted to AI systems.