Report: Finance Teams Use AI to Speed Tasks, Fail to Fix Cash Cycle

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – September 16, 2026 – Auditoria.AI's seventh annual "State of AI Automation in the Finance Office Report" reveals that finance organizations are decisively investing in artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate tasks. The report shows 66.5% of companies are increasing AI investments, with 24.2% treating it as a top budget priority.

Despite these investments, only 21.0% of respondents report achieving meaningful, measurable results from their AI initiatives. A significant majority, 64.8%, report mixed or unsuccessful outcomes. An additional 14.2% have not yet attempted AI initiatives.

The report, titled "The Age of Exploration," indicates that most (58.4%) finance teams remain in the exploration or piloting stages of AI. Only 12.8% have progressed to optimization or autonomous operations, with a mere 2.5% describing their finance functions as fully autonomous.

Rohit Gupta, CEO of Auditoria.AI, commented that while the willingness to fund AI is clear, consistent proof of its ability to handle the end-to-end finance workflow is still lacking. Specifically, managing the cash cycle, where a single invoice or payment can touch multiple systems and people, remains a challenge without reliable and accurate AI performance.

The report also indicates that while finance teams are responding faster to requests, follow-up work is taking more time. Over half (44.5%) now spend 11-30 hours per week chasing vendors, customers, and internal stakeholders. The biggest daily pain point mentioned is inaccurate or incomplete information from vendors and customers (22.1%).