Finance organizations are entering 2027 with ambitious plans for AI. According to FERF’s 2026 Finance Architecture Survey, 53% of organizations plan to direct a significant or substantial share of their technology budget to AI over the next 12 to 24 months.
Only 3% describe AI as a core, strategically integrated part of the function. And 39% are deploying AI tools with no formal framework to measure whether the investment is working.
The gap is a capacity problem. In 36% of organizations, directors, controllers, and senior managers spend between 31% and 50% of their time firefighting and manually intervening in data, serving as what the report calls “human middleware” between systems.
The people best positioned to modernize the function are the same people holding it together by hand.
Adoption raises a controls question
Bringing AI into financial reporting also changes how teams earn comfort over their controls. Internal control over financial reporting rests on traceable accountability: a person reviews, a person approves, and the evidence trail is clear. AI complicates that model.
FEI’s Committee on Corporate Reporting (CCR), a group of corporate controllers and chief accounting officers from Fortune 100 and large public companies, took this on directly in the AI Framework: Internal Control Over Financial Reporting.
The framework centers on human oversight and outcome-based validation, with control approaches that include human-in-the-loop review, performance testing, multi-model validation, and data analytics.
Turning ambition into action
These questions run through the program at FEI’s Corporate Financial Reporting Insights (CFRI) Conference, which convenes online tomorrow, November 10.
On Day 2, KPMG US Vice Chair of Audit and Assurance Christian Peo addresses the strategic side of AI adoption: redesigning capacity in lean teams, the economics of technology deployment, and preparing the workforce for AI integration. He also shares what regulators are asking about AI today.
Sessions presented by CFRI’s sponsors add practical perspectives on AI, technology, controls, tax, and digital assets.
The planning inputs are moving, too
Capacity and controls are only part of the 2027 picture. Plans also rest on an economic outlook and investor expectations that continue to shift.
Mastercard Chief Economist Michelle Meyer opens the conference with the global economic outlook, covering inflation, labor markets, consumer health, interest rates, and the policy environment, and what each means for capital allocation and strategic planning.
A panel of buy side, sell side, and investor relations voices follows, covering what investors look for in disclosures, how they assess management credibility, and where reporting cadence and transparency are evolving.
Day 3 turns to the regulatory agenda, with SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and leaders from the SEC, PCAOB, and FASB.
CFRI 2026 offers up to 21 CPE credits, with CPE-accredited replays December 1–3 and on demand access for one year after the live event. FEI Members receive exclusive pricing, and an Unlimited Company Registration option ($9,995) extends access across an organization.
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