AI in finance modernizes the entire industry by streamlining traditionally manual banking processes and unlocking deeper insights from generated data, helping dictate how and where investments are made. AI is also changing the customer experience by creating faster, contactless interactions, including real-time credit approvals and improved fraud protection and cybersecurity.
As AI evolves, so will its applications in finance. GenAI capabilities will increasingly be embedded into existing software systems used to manage financial processes, so teams can access such capabilities right in their existing workflows for accounts payable and receivable, budgeting and budget reconciliations, financial close, and more. Right now, there are several areas where AI is already being used to improve decision-making, efficiency, and the bottom line, including the following:
- Financial Forecasting and Planning:
AI-driven predictive analytics uses historical and industry data to forecast cash flows, automatically adjusting to new data for accuracy. GenAI provides contextual commentary to explain predictions and highlight key drivers.
- Regulatory Compliance:
AI automates compliance monitoring, audit trails, and report creation. Natural language processing (NLP) analyzes documents to extract critical information, identify risks, and manage document classification.
- Cash Flow Optimization:
AI and machine learning compile data to predict cash flows, enabling proactive liquidity management, such as securing early payment discounts or optimizing loan positions and working capital.
- Expense Management:
AI streamlines expense processing using optical character recognition (OCR) to digitize receipts and automate report population. It also automates approval workflows and guides employees on compliance policies.
- Task Automation:
AI automates repetitive finance tasks like data entry, invoice processing, payment execution, reconciliation, and financial close processes, saving time, reducing errors, and freeing staff for strategic work.
- Financial Reporting and Analysis:
AI extracts, cleans, and processes financial data to generate statements and KPIs. GenAI creates narrative reports, drafts regulatory forms like 10-Qs and 10-Ks, and provides contextual analysis.