According to a survey carried out by AccountsIQ, which delivers cloud accounting software for mid-market businesses, 81% of finance leaders mostly trust AI-driven outputs in finance processes but are wary of how quickly to move.

The CFO Mindset 2026 research conducted by Censuswide among 1,036 finance decision makers in the UK and Ireland, found that 41% describe the pressure as ‘significant’.

Darren Cran, CEO of Dublin-based AccountsIQ said: “Finance leaders are being asked to move on AI at the speed of the conversation around it.

“The discussion of AI starts in the boardroom and the press, and finance is expected to have an answer. Most finance leaders already trust what AI produces, so the hesitation sits with how quickly they can bring it in with the controls they need.

“In finance, controls mean knowing where a number came from and who approved it. Those take time to put in place, and a fast timetable can leave little room for them. Adopting at a pace that can be explained to a board, and its auditors makes the later questions easier to answer.” 

76% of respondents also said they are concerned that their organisation could become overly reliant on AI in finance decision-making.

The research was conducted among senior finance decision-makers, CFOs, finance directors, heads of finance, financial controllers and financial consultants at companies with 20 to 500 employees. 836 respondents were based in the UK and 200 in Ireland.