5 ways CFOs are using AI to control spend and close faster
Even with growing AI adoption, most finance teams are still struggling to turn it into consistent results.
Many are already exploring or piloting AI, but fewer have embedded it into the workflows that drive day-to-day work. In these cases, the same challenges persist. Manual work continues to increase risk, limit visibility into spend and slow down reconciliation, creating more cleanup and corrections at close.
The problem isn’t a lack of technology. It’s how it’s applied. AI is only as effective as the workflows and data it’s built on.
CFOs don’t need more tools. They need a more consistent way to control how money is spent across the organization. AI in finance and accounting delivers the most value when it’s embedded directly into existing spend workflows, combining automation with intelligence to prevent issues before they happen.
Leading finance teams are taking a different approach.
What modern CFOs are doing differently
Finance leaders are rethinking how they manage spend across the organization to reduce risk and gain more control over how money is spent. Instead of relying on manual review and after-the-fact fixes, they’re using systems that operate consistently in real time.
This shift starts with automation, which executes tasks across workflows. AI builds on that foundation by processing large volumes of transaction data, identifying patterns and improving accuracy over time.
In practice, this means focusing on a few core ways of managing spend differently:
- Standardize transaction data
Finance teams ensure transactions are captured and categorized consistently across the organization, reducing ambiguity, improving audit readiness and lowering the risk of errors later in the process. - Set and apply spend controls
Clear rules and guardrails shape how money is spent across teams, vendors and projects, preventing unapproved spend and reducing the need for cleanup later. - Monitor current spend activity
With a real-time view of transactions across the organization, finance teams can track spending against budgets and identify overruns before they happen.
With these changes, finance teams can catch issues earlier, reduce last-minute corrections and move through monthly close and audit season with more predictable outcomes.
AI in finance: a practical path for CFOs
For most finance teams, the challenge isn’t understanding what needs to change—it’s knowing where to start. The most effective teams don’t begin with advanced AI. They start with improving how work gets done day to day by automating financial processes, and then layering AI on top.
Stage 1: Remove manual work from core processes
Finance teams start by identifying where manual steps exist and reducing them wherever possible, especially in repetitive processes like coding, matching and reconciliation. This limits human error, reduces inconsistencies and lowers the risk of downstream corrections.
Stage 2: Enforce consistency across spend workflows
With less manual work in place, finance teams apply consistent rules across how transactions are approved, categorized and reported. This reduces exceptions, prevents unapproved spend and ensures policies are applied the same way across the organization.
Stage 3: Apply intelligence to improve accuracy and insight
With automated workflows and consistent spend data in place, finance teams can apply AI to process large volumes of transactions, identify patterns and surface anomalies. This helps teams respond earlier to unusual activity, reducing last-minute surprises and improving accuracy over time.
Here’s how that shows up across the spend processes finance teams manage every day.
5 ways AI is improving core finance workflows
- Capture and match receipts in real time
Missing or late receipts are a constant bottleneck. Finance teams spend hours tracking down documentation, delaying reconciliation and creating gaps in the audit trail.
Instead of chasing receipts after the fact, transactions flow in while receipts are captured alongside them. AI matches the two and improves accuracy over time, so fewer transactions require follow-up and audit trails stay complete.
- Reduce GL coding errors
Manual coding is time-consuming and error-prone. Transactions are often miscategorized, leading to rework during reconciliation.
Rather than relying on manual entry, transactions are categorized as they come in using predefined rules. AI improves tagging accuracy over time by learning from past behavior, so fewer transactions need to be revisited and data stays cleaner throughout the month.
- Prevent unauthorized spend
The most effective use of AI in finance isn’t fixing issues faster. It’s preventing them from happening in the first place. But many finance teams still enforce policies after spend occurs.
Transactions are reviewed during reconciliation and issues are flagged only once money has already left the business, adding unnecessary work at close.
With automated controls embedded into spend workflows, rules can be set by employee, vendor or project, and transactions are approved or declined in real time. AI helps surface exceptions and patterns so policies are applied consistently across spend.
- Reduce friction at close
When transaction data lives across multiple systems, finance teams have to pull reports, reconcile differences and fix inconsistencies before close.
By moving from fractured to connected systems, transactions sync across platforms as they are recorded. With fewer manual touchpoints, data stays aligned throughout the month, reducing last-minute adjustments.
- Turn spend data into usable insight
Many finance teams lack a clear, up-to-date view of spend. Data is pulled after the fact, making it harder to spot trends, track budgets or respond to issues as they arise.
With real-time visibility into spend, transactions can be tracked as they happen. AI helps surface patterns and flag anomalies, so finance teams can stay on budget and respond earlier to changes.
How PEX helps finance teams put AI into practice
AI delivers the most value when it’s embedded directly into the workflows finance teams rely on every day. PEX brings automation and intelligence together to reduce risk, strengthen control and eliminate manual work.
- Automated receipt capture and AI-enabled matching
With the PEX platform, employees can submit receipts via mobile app, email or text as transactions occur. The platform ingests transaction data and uses AI to match receipts in real time, flagging missing or mismatched items. This eliminates manual follow-up, reduces the risk of incomplete documentation and strengthens audit trails.
In a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of PEX, the Total Economic Impact™ study of PEX (2025), a composite organization reported saving 20 hours per month per accounts payable specialist, or 720 hours annually across a team, through automation features like receipt capture. - Preprogrammed GL coding with AI-driven suggestions
PEX categorizes transactions automatically using predefined rules based on merchant name. It then applies AI to learn from historical behavior and suggest codes where they’re missing. This reduces miscoding, minimizes rework and lowers the risk of errors carrying into monthly close.
- Custom spend controls and approval workflows
Finance teams can configure spend limits by merchant, location, employee or department directly within the PEX platform, with rules that determine when transactions are approved or declined. This prevents unauthorized spend, reduces fraud exposure and enforces policy consistently across the organization.
- 50+ accounting integrations for real-time reconciliation
PEX connects directly with many accounting systems, allowing transaction data to sync automatically as it’s recorded. Finance teams gain a real-time view of spend without pulling data across multiple tools. This eliminates duplicate entry, keeps systems aligned and reduces the risk of discrepancies at close.
With the PEX platform, Eastshore Alliance replaced a manual reimbursement process with PEX card options, real-time transaction capture and automated syncing into SAP Concur and QuickBooks. Transactions flow automatically into their expense system, with receipts attached and ready for approval.
By eliminating manual data entry and receipt chasing, the club saved 10 hours per month, and gained consistent control over travel spend across more than 30 cardholders.
Where AI delivers the most value in finance
For finance leaders, the opportunity is clear: focus on the processes that create the most friction and risk, then apply automation and intelligence to improve how those processes run day to day. The result is fewer issues surfacing later and less time spent fixing them.
Book a demo to see how PEX helps finance teams reduce risk, eliminate manual work and move through close faster and with fewer surprises.
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