Finance departments face global shortage of skilled staff, according to the Deloitte study Finance Trends 2026, and decreasing employee engagement and work overload add to the list of major workforce challenges for finance leaders. In this context, in order to meet staff acquisition and retention objectives, finance leaders increasingly use new technologies and technical skills, while leveraging AI and automation to address productivity gaps (40%). Almost two-thirds of the participants to the study (64%) say they plan to add more technical skills and capabilities to the finance workforce in 2025 and 2026, although they recognize that staff resistance to using new technology is a major challenge, and 39% of respondents already provide specialized training to upskill the workforce.
Besides training current finance professionals, companies also look for new sources of talent - 35% of the study participants consider candidates from non-traditional backgrounds and 28% attract talent from other departments - and structure teams to capitalize on the combined talents of data science and traditional finance professionals.
Among the new technologies used by finance departments to address workforce challenges, the study provides an in-depth analysis on AI which reveals that companies are already deploying such solutions and upgrading their people’s skills and capabilities. Most finance departments have started experimenting with AI solutions, moving from pilot projects to fully integrated solutions (63%), including fully integrating AI agents (autonomous AI solutions that perform tasks with limited or no human supervision) into their function (14%), and 21% of them already see clear, measurable value from their AI investments.
Agentic AI is the area where finance leaders see great potential, especially among companies which are more advanced in AI adoption. This technology appears to be attracting interest as a tool for financial planning and analysis (52%) to help navigate uncertainty and guide capital allocation. The study participants also indicate sales and profitability management (48%), working capital optimization (46%), and expense management (44%) as areas which could benefit from AI agents.
In this new environment, the top skills required by the finance leaders for the next fiscal year are AI and automation (28%), along with data analysis and technology integration (27%). Meanwhile, core business and finance skills, such as strategic decision-making (22%), cost-management expertise (21%), regulatory and legal compliance (21%), and business planning and forecasting (20%), rank lower on the priority list.
The challenges in deploying artificial intelligence solutions in the finance department vary depending on the status of AI adoption. For instance, the limited expertise in AI deployment is a challenge almost equally important for AI “leaders” (47%) and early-stage peers (45%), as well as regulatory complexity, which is a concern for 44% of AI leaders and for 40% of early-stage adopters. On the other hand, most of the finance departments which can be considered advanced in their AI implementation efforts (57%) see data security as a challenge, as finance teams handle some of the organization’s most sensitive data, whereas only 44% of early-stage peers see this as a challenge. Also, almost a third (30%) of the early-stage adopters are concerned by unclear return on investment (ROI), whereas only 21% of AI leaders mentioned it. And 41% of those which are in early phases of AI adoption face the challenge of the legacy technology infrastructure, compared to only 31% of the respondents who have already deployed AI solutions. As far as legacy systems are concerned, several finance leaders interviewed are going through a multi-year digital transformation of their enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to provide greater flexibility and access to insights.
“Recruiting the right skills for the finance departments has become more difficult, as indicated in our previous CFO surveys conducted in Romania and process automation and AI have risen as some of the possible solutions to address this matter. In fact, with the advent of generative AI, the finance function is changing in ways we could never have imagined just a few years ago. In order to stay on top of the wave of change, finance leaders will need to adopt new skills and mindsets that blend finance skills, business drive, technology and human skills, such as curiosity and critical thinking, while building teams which combine talents of data science and traditional finance professionals, so necessary for problem-solving and innovation. They also have to create a connected data infrastructure to build the base for future AI integration, bringing together previously disconnected data under one roof, and then to prioritize efficient governance and scenario planning to achieve agile decision-making," said Zeno Caprariu, Audit Partner, Deloitte Romania, and Leader of the CFO Program in Romania.
The Deloitte Finance Trends 2026 study was conducted globally among over 1,300 finance leaders working in companies in various industries with annual revenues exceeding US$1 billion. Respondents are CFOs or next-in-line to be CFOs.
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