Good morning. Finance skills are topping the list of what companies need most as AI takes center stage.
Executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles has released its 2026 Skills Index, unveiling a top 15 most in-demand skills list based on its proprietary data. Financial controls, accounting, and audit rank first, followed by project management, then financial planning, analysis, and modeling. Program management office leadership, and process optimization round out the top five—a lineup that reflects what companies need most during leadership change, transactions, and transformation: clarity, execution, and stability.
“The external environment is certainly a major factor behind financial controls, accounting, and audit ranking as the number one most in-demand skill,” Sunny Ackerman, global managing partner of on-demand talent at Heidrick & Struggles, told me. Companies are navigating economic uncertainty, a highly selective capital environment, market volatility, and rapid technological change driven by AI, Ackerman said.
“When companies are managing many competing priorities at once, financial leadership becomes critical,” she said. Experienced leaders who can strengthen financial operations, improve visibility, and create greater confidence in the numbers and how to move the business forward are in demand.
It stood out to me that no AI-specific skill appears anywhere in the top 15 most in-demand list, even though the report names “turning AI ambition into operating results” as a top business priority. However, that’s not a sign companies have deprioritized AI. It’s a sign AI is being built into every function.
“This is one of the most interesting findings in the data,” Ackerman said. “Organizations are no longer approaching AI as a standalone technology initiative.”
AI’s success depends on more than the technology itself—it requires strong data foundations and clear governance, she explained. In looking at the skills experiencing the fastest growth in the firm’s 2026 Skills Index, “AI” doesn’t emerge as a distinct category. Heidrick & Struggles sees advanced analytics increase by 350%, database architecture and data management grow by 150%, and process optimization and transformation rise by 147%.
“The biggest takeaway is that organizations aren’t simply looking for AI specialists,” Ackerman said. “They’re looking for leaders who can connect data, technology, and business operations to drive outcomes.”
That means companies aren’t asking “who understands AI?” so much as “who can use it to make analytics sharper, data more reliable, and operations more efficient?” AI has moved from a hiring category to an operating expectation.
Finance’s growing role as the interim fix
The index also points to a broader shift toward interim leadership, and finance sits at the center of it. Heidrick & Struggles’ 2026 High-End Independent Talent report found that interim CFO roles account for 51% of all interim leadership requests—by far the largest share of any C-suite function.
“This underscores the critical role finance leaders play during periods of uncertainty and change,” Ackerman said, “because of their ability to provide the visibility, financial discipline, and strategic guidance organizations need to navigate complexity with confidence.”
Read together, the data tells a consistent story: execution, not experimentation, is what companies are staffing for. And increasingly, that means finance leaders who can fold AI into the fundamentals rather than treat it as a separate initiative.
Sheryl Estrada [email protected]
The post The finance skills that are becoming more and more critical in the AI age appeared first on Fortune.
