Since ChatGPT exploded into the zeitgeist in late 2022, the business conversation surrounding ChatGPT has been filled with sometimes hyperbolic declarations about the scope of the role generative AI will play. It also includes a dire warning for finance leaders about the AI skills they need. Get to keep your job.
But what exactly are the AI skills that finance professionals need and how can they develop them? For CFOs and other finance leaders, these skills mean learning to code your own AI models. You may be happy to know that it’s not a thing. But they mean understanding how AI works and what it can do, said Joseph Parente, KPMG’s U.S. consulting AI leader.
“You don’t need to be a software engineer, you don’t need to know how to write Python code, but you do need to understand machine learning concepts,” Parente said in an interview. “How do machine learning and natural language processing actually work? What is possible and what is not possible?”
Octavio “OJ” Laos, director of AI at California-based accounting firm Armanino, is sometimes surprised by the misconceptions held by financial industry leaders, so first and foremost he looks at publicly available free generative AI models. I recommended trying some of them. That way you will be able to understand how it works in real life.
“What they need more of is simple real-world interaction with it, maybe more experience than knowledge. If they don’t use some of these tools, they won’t understand what’s at stake. It’s hard to conceptualize,” he said in an interview.
CFOs need to connect AI to goals
For CFOs in particular, they must learn how to connect AI to their organization’s broader strategic goals. A big part of that is finding the right use case for your individual situation, said W. Michael Hsu, California’s CEO and founder. DeepSky is a CFO consulting and accounting outsourcing company.
“For CFOs, AI becomes a sandbox for strategic thinking. The CFO’s role is no longer just about managing financial data; it’s about collaborating with AI to explore new models and quickly test ideas. , making better decisions faster,” he said.
To achieve this objective, CFOs may need to learn how to leverage AI to interpret data and detect anomalies, or to perform scenario modeling to test strategies and ideas. Mr. Sue said.
KPMG’s Parente also noted that CFOs should focus on finding compelling use cases before implementing AI, and one CFO he spoke with said they wanted to implement the solution across their business. He pointed out that he had been thinking about it, but had not thought of a specific application. He contrasted this with a financial director at an agricultural company who had more specific plans to use the technology to determine whether cows were being properly milked.
CFOs also need to regularly put AI products through rigorous financial testing to determine whether they are worth the cost and fit within budgets.
“What is the true cost of this? Everyone thinks about the benefits. Can we reduce labor and improve quality? But… how much does it cost to acquire, build and maintain it?” Will it take? That’s up to financial executives,” Parente said.
Controller to review specific applications
In contrast, controller, treasurer, or CAO-level talent is in the weeds, and their AI skillset needs to revolve around the organization’s specific needs and how they can be improved. According to Armanino’s Laos.
For executives in these roles, he said, “It’s less about planning and more about practical application.”
At this level, AI skills become specialized for specific applications, such as using AI for compliance and reporting automation, error detection, and cash flow forecasting, according to DeepSky’s Hsu. Considering the use cases for AI in finance, managers and treasurers may need to consider how AI disrupts separation of duties, Raos said.
Segregation of duties, a core principle of a strong financial management system, ensures that a system is set up so that no one person is responsible for all stages of the financial process, from payment approval and approval to reconciliation. ). Oxford University.
“Traditionally, roles like administrator and treasurer have been kept separate to prevent fraud,” Laos said. “A question worth studying is whether AI can perform dual abilities without the risk of human bias or fraud.”
become skilled
Developing AI skills is a combination of learning by doing, consuming AI content, and finding AI learning communities and events, experts say.
Both Armanino’s Lao and KPMG’s Parente were skeptical about the general AI class, which tends to only scratch the surface. Instead, Parente recommends role-specific training that focuses on specific positions, such as CFO, CAO, or treasurer.
Large accounting firms such as KPMG partner with various universities to offer this type of intensive training. But no matter what you do, the important thing is to get started and not be scared, Parente said, adding that anecdotally, some executives are afraid of its complexity and their understanding of the technology. He pointed out that the amount remained relatively “shallow”.
“There’s this stigma…but at some point this becomes business as usual,” Parente said. “We’ve all learned spreadsheets, we’ve all learned financial systems. All of this is something we’ve learned over time. It’s going to happen again. This is the beginning of a journey, but this is the first time we’re going on a journey. Not.”
