Good morning. AI is turning the CFO job into something much bigger. Finance chiefs are increasingly weighing decisions that extend far beyond the balance sheet. That’s a central finding of an IBM Institute for Business Value study released this morning. The research shows the CFO role is set to increase in breadth and depth, with “AI-first CFOs” leading the pack. Sixty-two percent of CFOs surveyed say their role has already expanded into enterprise technology or AI strategy leadership. More than half report greater portfolio-management and capital-reallocation authority and more responsibility for business-model or growth-strategy design. More striking, by 2030, more than half of CFOs surveyed expect an even wider remit: 56% anticipate greater responsibility for financial and ethical guardrails surrounding AI; 55% expect to help shape operating models, workforce strategies and organizational structure; and 52% expect a bigger role in enterprise value creation and portfolio strategy. The findings resonate with Jim Kavanaugh, IBM’s CFO and SVP of finance and operations, who has led finance at the technology company for nearly a decade. “For years, the CFO role centered on controllership, risk, fiduciary responsibilities, balance-sheet preservation and cash management,” said Kavanaugh, IBM’s CFO since 2018 and a more than 30-year company veteran. “Today, technology is at the core of sustainable competitive advantage. The CFO is a value creator.” In the past decade—and perhaps even the past five years—CFOs have shifted from what Kavanaugh calls a “guardian of stability” to an “agent of transformation.” AI is making the CFO role more interconnected with other C-suite functions, not replacing them, Kavanaugh said. CEOs set strategic direction; technology leaders enable new capabilities; COOs reimagine workflows; and CHROs shape talent and culture, he said. The CFO’s task is to connect those decisions to an investment thesis, operating model and measurable value. “I think CFOs who co-architect the AI strategy business model can shape markets and define new sources of value,” Kavanaugh said.
Why finance’s AI transformation is still lagging
The IBM survey, conducted with Oxford Economics, gathered perspectives from 1,500 CFOs across 33 geographies and 26 industries in the first half of 2026, along with CFO interviews. Another striking finding: Just 6% of CFOs described their finance organization as transformation-ready, meaning AI is consistently embedded in workflows and decision-making at scale. Kavanaugh said that gap is largely a sequencing problem: Companies often start with AI tools rather than the underlying work needed to make them valuable. He identifies three prerequisites: sound data architecture and governance, business-model and workflow redesign, and then technology deployment. “Many people fail because they start with AI technology first,” Kavanaugh said. “You have to unlock the data and unlock the business-model reimagination of work.” Kavanaugh pointed to IBM’s quote-to-cash process, which spans everything from customer quotes and contracting through billing, collections, and cash receipt. IBM found 364 different iterations across job roles and functions, then redesigned the process as an end-to-end, cross-functional workflow, using AI to automate many of the steps.
The result, he said, was 90% touchless automation, a 60% productivity improvement, and a 54% increase in the velocity of cash conversion. IBM has generated $4.5 billion in productivity over the past three years and aims to reach $5.5 billion in 2026. The company sees those gains as capacity to invest in growth, rather than simply cost cutting. The study offers an in-depth analysis of how “AI-first CFOs” excel across five disciplines: shaping advantage, governance, intelligence, capital motion and building optionality. Companies led by AI-first CFOs achieved revenue growth rates 23% higher than peer organizations from 2022 to 2024, according to IBM. In Kavanaugh’s view, the defining challenge is not treating AI as a technology project with a people component. It is treating AI as a business transformation that combines human and digital work to create sustainable enterprise value.
Sheryl Estrada [email protected]
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