Finance Is Scaling AI Faster Than It Can Trust the Results, New OneStream Index Finds

Global study of 1,300 CFOs finds 74% of Finance leaders are already using AI to reduce manual work, but only 40% have fully transparent financial data and just 14% are achieving enterprise value.

BIRMINGHAM, Mich., Oct. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- OneStream, the AI operating system for modern Finance that unifies core financial and operational processes, embedding the governance, context, and control required to make AI work, today released its inaugural Forward Finance Index, a report that benchmarks leading CFOs against the Forward Finance Blueprint, a new AI operating model designed to help Finance steer the business forward. The Index found a significant gap between the pace of AI adoption in Finance and enterprise return: while nearly three-quarters (74%) of Finance teams now use AI to reduce manual work, only 14% say their investments have achieved genuine "enterprise value and decision impact" – held back by critical lags in data foundations, workforce skills, and operating capabilities.

"The potential for AI in Finance has never been greater, but adoption alone doesn't create enterprise value," said Robert Kugel, Executive Director, Business Research at ISG Research. "Most organizations are scaling AI faster than the data foundation it relies on – and in Finance, that foundation is everything. As AI takes on more consequential work, every decision has to be transparent, explainable, and traceable. The next enterprise AI advantage won't come from simply having a smarter model. It will come from building an environment where you can safely give AI more authority."

The Index findings, drawn from 1,300 CFOs across the U.S., U.K., and France, benchmark AI readiness and maturity against five critical areas identified by CFOs and Finance experts from leading global organizations: AI strategy, data, workforce, operations, and IT collaboration.

The research reveals that only 6% of Finance organizations are leading across all five areas. More than half (52%) rank as "Followers," held back by fundamental gaps: data they can't fully trust, AI that hasn't delivered measurable ROI, limited visibility into operational decisions, disconnected IT roadmaps, and a workforce not yet equipped for AI. Four in ten Finance executives say data quality issues regularly block or delay their AI projects, underscoring how much the data foundation shapes what AI can deliver.

Finance's biggest gaps in scaling AI sit between ambition and execution

Across data, AI strategy, operations, IT partnership, and workforce, the research identifies critical gaps between strategic intent and day-to-day execution:

• Data confidence without clarity. 71% of executives are confident in their team's ability to provide trusted data and insight for decision-making, while just 40% classify their financial reporting data as fully transparent, meaning it can be clearly traced, explained, and validated.
• AI adoption without measurable impact. Nearly three-quarters (74%) say AI is already reducing manual intervention in close, reporting, and reconciliation cycles – but just 14% say AI has reached "enterprise value and decision impact."
• Enterprise influence without operational visibility. 73% of Finance teams proactively approach business units to suggest efficiencies – yet only 17% rate their early-warning and risk-identification capabilities as "leading."
• IT partnership without integration. 71% believe Finance and IT are strategic partners rather than separate entities – but only 15% have a fully integrated joint roadmap with shared KPIs and accountability.
• AI ambition without workforce readiness. Only 15% of organizations have a fully embedded AI skills program – even as two-thirds (66%) believe that failing to prepare their workforce will make their organization irrelevant within five years.

These barriers are costing Finance billions

OneStream's research also found that Finance-led insight now drives decisions worth an average of about $1.6 billion for organizations each year, while Finance-led early-warning signals helped organizations prevent an average of more than $10 million in potential operational and financial losses. As decision velocity becomes a defining competitive advantage, the gap between Finance's ambition and its readiness carries a rising cost.

"Every Finance team wants to move faster with AI, but AI depends on the very data foundations most organizations haven't built," said Tom Shea, Founder and CEO at OneStream. "Deploying AI on top of data you can't fully trace, explain, or trust compounds enterprise risk as systems act more autonomously. A trusted, unified data environment is what turns AI from a promising pilot into insights leaders can act on with confidence. Closing that foundational gap is what separates the leaders from the pack."

A path forward

Forward Finance Leaders treat AI as an operating model shift rather than a set of pilots, grounded in trusted data and an AI-ready workforce. Across the Index, they consistently outperform Followers on the capabilities that turn AI into enterprise value:

• Data Transparency: 86% of Leaders maintain an end-to-end view of data lineage across financial and operational systems, establishing the trusted foundation autonomous AI requires.
• Measurable ROI: Leaders are significantly more successful at translating AI adoption into daily operational value. Nearly seven in ten (68%) report tangible gains in operational performance insight (compared to 39% of Followers), and 66% report AI-driven improvements in data quality (vs. 46%).
• Decision Governance: 82% of Leaders actively track whether operational decisions deliver expected outcomes, compared to 66% of Followers.
• IT Alignment: Leaders are far more likely to harmonize operational data (88% vs. 68%) and market data (88% vs. 62%) with IT.
• Workforce Readiness: Leaders redesign Finance roles around human judgment and insight rather than manual production, prioritizing workforce readiness for an AI-augmented operating model.

The full OneStream Forward Finance Index is available at https://www.onestream.com/resources/forward-finance-index/

About the Study

The OneStream Forward Finance Index is based on a survey of 1,300 CFOs and equivalent Finance leaders at mid-market ($500M-$999.9M revenue) and enterprise ($1B-$10B+ revenue) organizations across the U.S., U.K., and France, spanning financial services, manufacturing, retail & consumer, public sector, and pharmaceuticals. Organizations were scored across five equally weighted dimensions and grouped into four maturity tiers: Leaders, Advancers, Adopters, and Followers.

About OneStream

OneStream is the AI operating system for modern Finance that unifies core financial close, planning, and operational processes and data, in one intelligent platform, all embedded with the governance, context, and control required to make AI work for Finance.

With over 1,900 customers, including 16% of the Fortune 500, a strong ecosystem of go-to-market, implementation, and development partners and 1,600 employees, we empower the Office of the CFO to become a critical driver of business strategy and execution. To learn more, visit onestream.com.

Media Contact

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Media Relations Contact
OneStream
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SOURCE OneStream, Inc.