CAOs at a crossroads: Why Chief Accounting Officers must double down on the AI opportunity

Chief accounting officers (CAOs) are at a pivotal moment, facing both opportunities and challenges as artificial intelligence (AI) transforms the accounting profession. While CAOs continue to devote most of their time to governance and compliance, their strategic responsibilities are expected to grow, especially in event-driven transactions and business transformation. The adoption of generative AI is accelerating, but integration remains slow due to concerns about accuracy, data security, and limited understanding. Upskilling staff and automating routine tasks are now central to workforce strategies, with a strong emphasis on culture, flexibility, and well-being to address persistent talent gaps and burnout.

Beyond AI and talent management, the survey explores CAOs’ roles in data analytics, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and capital markets readiness. CAOs are recognized for ensuring financial data quality but are rarely seen as primary leaders in analytics strategy. Their influence in M&A is mostly supportive, with significant gaps in perceived strategic impact. Regarding capital markets, most organizations are not actively pursuing entry, and CAOs feel only moderately prepared to lead such initiatives. The report calls for CAOs to embrace AI, focus on transformational process improvement, and build resilient teams to meet emerging challenges.

As CAOs navigate these evolving expectations, this year’s survey highlights these priority topics: 

• AI Adoption and Integration: CAOs are accelerating AI adoption to modernize accounting, but progress is slowed by concerns over accuracy, security, and limited expertise.
• Talent Management: Retention strategies now focus on culture, flexibility, and upskilling to address persistent staffing challenges and generational differences. 
• Data Analytics: CAOs play a key role in ensuring financial data quality but are rarely the primary leaders of broader analytics initiatives. 
• M&A Involvement: CAOs contribute strategically to due diligence in M&A, yet their impact on post-deal value creation is perceived as limited.
• Capital Markets Readiness: Most organizations are not urgently pursuing capital market entry, and CAOs feel only moderately prepared to lead such efforts.