FP&A within the finance function has undergone a tremendous overhaul in recent years thanks to new technology supplementing finance work. Despite the hype and excitement around AI’s role in core FP&A functions like data analysis, forecasting, budgeting and cash management, new data from the Association of Finance Professionals suggests legacy tools like Excel still reign supreme within the FP&A function while AI adoption is low.
AFP’s 2025 FP&A Benchmarking Survey indicates that for reasons like data security concerns, lack of expertise, unclear AI strategies and cost of implementation, only 23% of those working within FP&A are using AI.
Why AI use is low
Though the upside to AI use in the FP&A function can be explained in theory, its practicality, particularly in the implementation process, is challenging. Outside of those using it regularly, those who plan to use AI and those who don’t are nearly split. Forty percent of respondents said they are currently testing AI and plan to implement it in the next 12 months, while 36% said they are neither experimenting with nor planning to use AI in their FP&A function.
Surveyors gauged reasons for low implementation on a 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) scale, then totaled the results. Lack of expertise received the highest score of 3.8, a challenge identified by other reports as an opportunity for upskilling and improving employee morale. Other reasons included unclear ROI (3.7) and a three-way tie between data safety concerns, concerns about incorrect answers and a lack of a corporate AI strategy (3.6).
An individual’s perspective on AI aside, its adoption often depends on the size of the company and less on the company’s AI policies. Survey respondents said it’s apparent that smaller companies have higher utilization of new AI tools due to their more flexible approach to new technologies. Meanwhile, organizational resistance (rated 3.1) and company policies banning AI tools (rated 2.7) ranked lowest among the reasons for limited AI use within FP&A teams.
This take on the relationship between company size and AI integration contrasts with data that says otherwise, including last year’s Q2 Duke-Fed CFO survey, which said large companies planned to integrate AI within the entire finance function within a year.
Spreadsheets reign supreme but data autonomy is desired
Arguably the most impactful tool ever introduced to finance next to the tally stick, spreadsheets and their add-ins continue to be the most impactful tools within the FP&A function. Within the planning function, nearly all (92%) say they use them daily, with over half (58%) using add-ins daily. In contrast, only 12% use commercial off-the-shelf tools with AI built into them daily, and only 8% use generative AI in the FP&A function daily.
Interestingly, the most commonly automated part of FP&A is creating a “single version of the truth for planning,” according to the report, with a quarter of respondents saying this area is primarily automated. While experts advise CFOs to approach this style of FP&A only if their data is ready for it, similar areas also lead the list of automated parts of FP&A. Standard planning calculation throughout models (21%), creating baseline budgets (18%) and creating baseline forecasts (18%) are the next-most automated areas.
This mix of manual and automated processes varies between organizations, but the standards remain the same. Sixty-nine percent said planning tools need defined roles for finance and business to enter data, 67% said they need to maintain a robust security framework and 62% said they must allow finance to administer, maintain, operate and update with minimal IT support.
Cautious optimism
Like any good finance leader, decision-makers within FP&A are skeptical of the cost-benefit as well as the risk implications of putting their company’s data into a Pandora’s box of new technology. Despite low use now, disinterest in the technology’s use entirely isn’t indicated. The adoption of generative AI and machine learning, in particular, has risen by 10 and 12 percentage points, respectively, compared to the survey results in 2020.
The 2025 AFP FP&A Benchmarking Survey gathered insights from 362 finance and FP&A professionals, including CFOs, finance managers, FP&A managers, analysts, controllers and directors of FP&A.
