Finance taps generative AI to streamline accounting, hiring tasks

Artificial intelligence has the potential to revolutionize finance, whether it’s driving down costs or improving performance. But there are complications, too, especially when it comes to data security and regulation.

“I think there are a lot of opportunities for AI,” said Ariel Soiffer, a technology transactions partner at Boston law firm WilmerHale, on a panel at the recent MIT Sloan CFO Summit. “The question is, how do we [act on them] in a way that’s fair, that’s responsible, that is not overregulated but not underregulated? It’s going to be pretty hard.” 

Panel moderator Belkis Vasquez-McCall, a partner at McKinsey, said finance is a cautious profession by nature, and in that vein, executives are being thoughtful about where and how to use AI in finance. 

“They’re being selective in the use cases that they’re leveraging, but there’s still a lot of opportunity — whether you’re optimizing your budget or how you make decisions,” Vasquez-McCall said. 

Here are the experts’ thoughts regarding AI and finance.

AI can help finance operate more efficiently 

AI can be used to close the books faster and with better efficiency, said Oliver Foley, CFO of automotive digital marketplace TrueCar. He also noted the technology’s trickle-down effect in terms of increased efficiencies.

“On the accounting side, if it takes us eight to 10 business days to close our books at the end of the month, what if we can do that in three or four?” Foley asked. Likewise, using AI to help pull together a monthly business review could enable the organization to move its monthly executive team meeting up by a week or more.

“That kind of speed is what we’re really focused on,” Foley said. “It’s not so much about cost-cutting. It’s really about being able to do things more efficiently and quicker so that we can serve the organization better.”

As an example, Soiffer highlighted his use of AI to summarize provisions of a contract that dealt with a complex process that involved buying out a partner in a limited liability corporation. 

“[AI] was able to do so in a fraction of the time that somebody else might’ve been able to do that,” he said, noting that his team subsequently fact-checked the output for quality. “That’s an example of an AI application that I think might be really important for when you have really complex contracts that you need to analyze quickly.”

Jim Hillier, chief financial officer of cybersecurity company Bitsight, said that one of the most useful applications for generative AI in his department has been giving his team a head start on tasks. 

“I’ve been surprised at the number of times I’ve asked GenAI a question and suddenly, I’ve got 20% or 30% of what I need,” he said.

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AI can streamline the hiring process

Kevin Rhodes, executive vice president and CFO of network equipment company Extreme Networks, said that AI has helped address pain points between the company’s hiring and finance departments. 

For example, human resources isn’t always familiar with the requirements that make a candidate good for a technical role. Rhodes said his company’s IT department is now using AI to run a model that provides the HR department with recommendations on which resumes to look at first. 

“So now, instead of spending literally nights and weekends trying to figure out who to interview on a screening basis, they actually have data that's driving the decision point for them to go look at those resumes,” he said. 

AI needs strict governance 

Hillier raised concerns about potential data breaches when working with AI vendors and pointed to the necessity of preventing your data from falling into the wrong hands.

“That’s something we had to put a strict governance structure around,” he said. “AI technology gives the bad actors many more tools at their disposal to things like ransomware.”

Regarding government regulation, Soiffer said that “it’s a tough balance.” On the one hand, “some method of regulation is necessary to prevent the sorts of really terrible outcomes that could occur.” That said, he noted that having too much regulation will hinder progress, not just in the U.S. but around the world.

“It’s something we all need to think carefully about — to make sure that we’re neither over- or underregulating, and trying to get to the right place for internal purposes as well,” he said.

Read next: Can generative AI provide trusted financial advice?