Consero released its 2026 CFO Survey, a benchmark of 102 finance leaders at investor-backed businesses with $20M-$500M in revenue.
The findings point to a clear inflection: AI in finance has moved from experiment to operating model, and the leaders furthest along are also the ones hiring the most.
The survey captures sentiment from CFOs (71%) and VPs of Finance (29%) across a mix of PE- and VC-backed companies, spanning five industries.
Key Findings
- AI deployment doubled in a year: 42% report AI broadly or fully embedded in finance, up 20 points from 22% in 2025. Overall adoption is now 97%, a 23-point swing in two years.
- AI augments teams: 87% are hiring more finance staff, even as AI scales.
- ROI shows up fast: 76% expect AI ROI within 12 months; just 3% are skeptical of payoff.
- The close compressed: 65% close the month in under 10 days, up from 8% in 2024 – an 8× jump.
- Transaction expecations are high: 99% expect at least one material transaction this year, and 50% are pursuing add-on acquisitions – a year-over-year surge.
About the Report
The 2026 CFO Survey is the only benchmark built specifically for investor-backed finance leaders, complete with segment-level cuts, methodology, and trend-by-trend analysis on AI ROI, close performance, headcount, and the 2026 risk picture.
Read the original Newswire coverage here.
