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Finance leaders across the UK and Ireland are under growing pressure to adopt artificial intelligence faster than they are comfortable with, even as confidence in the technology itself remains high.
Finance Leaders Feel Rushed Into AI Adoption
Research commissioned by AccountsIQ found that 82% of finance leaders feel under pressure to accelerate AI adoption, with 41% describing that pressure as significant.
The unease is even stronger in Ireland, where 91.5% of respondents said they felt pushed to move faster than they would prefer, compared with 80.3% in the UK.
The findings suggest that the central concern is not whether AI can produce useful outputs, but whether finance teams can introduce it quickly while maintaining adequate governance and control.
Trust Is High, but Governance Is Lagging
Some 81% of finance leaders said they fully or mostly trust AI-driven outputs in finance processes.
That creates an unusual tension.
Executives appear broadly convinced that AI can improve decision-making and automate routine work, but many remain uncomfortable with the pace at which implementation is being demanded.
Darren Cran, chief executive of AccountsIQ, said finance teams are being asked to move at the speed of wider boardroom and market discussion around AI, while still being expected to explain how numbers were produced and who approved them.
For finance functions, that accountability matters.
Outputs generated today may be challenged months later by auditors, boards or regulators, making traceability and approval controls essential.
Over-Reliance Emerges as a Major Concern
The survey also found that 76% of respondents are concerned their organisation could become too dependent on AI in finance decision-making.
That points towards continued demand for human oversight even as adoption accelerates.
AI can assist with tasks such as transaction coding, anomaly detection and financial analysis, but finance leaders appear reluctant to remove people entirely from the decision chain.
The implication is that adoption will increasingly depend on whether systems can explain how an output was reached and preserve clear lines of accountability.
The Pace of Adoption May Become the Real Risk
For banks, payments companies and other financial institutions, the challenge is becoming less about deciding whether to use AI and more about how quickly to embed it safely.
The AccountsIQ research suggests many finance leaders are already past the point of debating the technology’s usefulness.
Their concern is whether governance, controls and operating models can keep pace with implementation.
AI adoption in finance is accelerating, but the real test may be whether organisations can move quickly without weakening the auditability, accountability and human oversight on which financial decision-making depends.
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