CFOs’ capital commitment to AI is real and growing rapidly, with finance departments increasingly reaping the benefits, Bain & Company finds in new research.
Bain’s survey of more than 100 CFOs globally reveals that 83% plan to increase enterprise-wide AI spending by more than 15% over the next two years, with a significant share of that spending allocated to finance functions. Notably, 42% of CFOs expect to boost their AI budgets by 30% or more during that two-year period.
Momentum for AI spending by CFOs is already building in the near term: more than half of respondents are raising their AI budgets by over 15% this year, and nearly 21% anticipate boosting AI spending by over 30%. The largest share of AI investment in finance functions over the next 12 months is allocated towards financial planning, analysis, and reporting.
Half of the CFOs surveyed represent companies with revenues of $5 billion or higher, with 26 at organizations generating over $10 billion annually.
“CFOs are entering a decisive moment,” said Michael Heric, partner at Bain & Company and global leader of Corporate Support?and?Service Operations?solutions in Bain’s?Performance Improvement?practice.?“AI is no longer a side experiment sitting outside the core of finance departments. Real capital commitment in AI is now a must for finance leaders to drive productivity, govern risk, and shape organizational performance.”
Bain’s research highlights a link between increased AI scale and return on AI investment. Among CFOs deploying some form of AI at scale, including machine learning, GenAI, or agentic, over 40% are highly satisfied with AI results, compared to just 25% at companies still piloting AI. CFO satisfaction exceeds 60% at firms in the top quartile of AI maturity. Overall, just 31% of CFOs are satisfied with their AI outcomes.
While CFOs largely invest in AI for the cost and efficiency gains, they ultimately identify speed as their biggest AI win, Bain’s survey shows. <a href="https://menainsights.com/savoye-appoints-hakim-ramadan-to-lead-middle-east-expansion-amid-accelerating-logistics-growth/”>Amid macroeconomic uncertainty and supply chain disruption, AI enables finance functions to quickly identify risk, reforecast, and reallocate capital, creating a competitive advantage over peers.
But most organizations are still stuck in AI experimentation mode
Only 15%-25% of CFOs have scaled AI across finance functions, Bain finds.
Bain identifies four imperatives for CFOs to convert AI investment into a structural performance advantage:
- Treat speed as a strategic outcome
- Build a scaling engine, not a pilot portfolio
- Pay down ‘workflow debt’ before deploying agents
- Don’t let yesterday’s pilots define tomorrow’s ambitions