How AI Is Transforming FP&A – and What CFOs Need to Do Next

Most teams have already figured out the basics of using LLMs. Writing is faster. Summaries are easier. Admin disappears. But as Kevin points out, these early wins are surface-level. Helpful, yes – but hardly transformational.

The real shift is happening inside FP&A.

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💡 About the episode

In this episode, Kenny sits down with Kevin Appleby – Head of Partnerships and host at GrowCFO, Chartered Accountant, and long-time mentor to finance leaders – to explore how AI is reshaping the finance function.

Kevin shares why most teams have mastered the surface-level benefits of LLMs, but still haven’t tapped into the deeper transformation happening inside FP&A: faster forecasting, richer insight, and more dynamic decision-making.

He explains how AI shifts finance from reporting the past to guiding the organisation forward, what this means for the evolving role of the CFO, and why curiosity and culture matter far more than the tools themselves.

The conversation is practical, grounded, and focused on helping finance teams use AI in ways that elevate judgement, improve visibility, and build a more strategic finance function.

Here are some key takeaways from the conversation:

1. Use AI to deepen insight, not just speed up admin

Kevin urges finance leaders to move beyond using AI for surface-level tasks like drafting reports or cleaning up narratives. Those wins are useful, but they don’t change how finance operates.

The real value comes from pointing AI at large datasets so it can highlight patterns, trends, risks, and anomalies before humans spot them.

This turns AI into a decision-support engine — and shifts the finance team from collecting numbers to understanding what they actually mean.

2. Make FP&A your first area of transformation

If there’s one part of finance where AI is most visible, it’s FP&A. FP&A already handles forecasting, modelling, and scenario planning – which makes it the natural place for AI to create immediate improvements.

AI can refresh assumptions, rebuild models, and surface operational changes in near real time, dramatically reducing the lag between new information and new insight.

Finance leaders don’t need a full systems overhaul to get results; simply letting AI accelerate existing planning cycles can transform the team’s pace and accuracy.

3. Judgement still sits with humans — and that won’t change

Kevin is clear: AI can process data faster than analysts, but it can’t replace the judgement needed to interpret what matters.

Leaders should use AI to narrow the field, clarify options, and elevate visibility — not to make the call.

Kevin makes the point that the highest-leverage CFOs build confidence by combining AI’s analytical horsepower with their own experience to create stronger, more confident decision-making across the business.‍

4. Adoption is a cultural challenge, not a tooling challenge

The biggest blocker Kevin sees isn’t tooling – it’s mindset. He has worked with hundreds of finance leaders through GrowCFO, and he sees the same reality: curiosity makes adoption easy. Fear makes it slow.

He recommends creating permission for small tests, quick iterations, and low-stakes experimentation, the same way teams refine forecasting models over time.

This approach produces finance functions that run more predictably, spend less time on manual work, and operate with far greater strategic impact.

Finance is entering a new era — faster, richer, more strategic

Kevin ends with a view that resonates across the episode: AI won’t erase the finance function; it will elevate it.

Finance teams will spend less time gathering numbers and more time understanding them.
Forecasts will become continuous, not quarterly.
And the CFO will sit even closer to the centre of decision-making.

It’s not a future of replacement – it’s a future of amplification.

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Chapters

00:00 – Introduction & Kevin’s Background

02:30 – What’s Really Changed in Finance

04:50 – Why CFOs Feel Overwhelmed by AI

06:10 – How to Choose the Right AI Tools

10:50 – Spotting “Real” vs. “Fake” AI

13:20 – Practical Examples of AI in Finance

17:15 – Plugins vs. Full Finance Transformation

22:20 – How AI Is Reshaping Finance Roles

30:40 – Leading Teams Through AI Change

32:50 – Quick Fire Round and Closing

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About the guest

Kevin Appleby is the Head of Partnerships and Podcast Host of GrowCFO, and finance mentor. His work spans CFO capability development, finance transformation, and strategic planning. He is known for helping finance leaders elevate their function through clear thinking, strong systems, and intentional leadership.

About the show

The AI Opportunity is a podcast for business leaders who want to turn AI from noise into real results.

Each episode features someone who’s put AI to work inside real organisations and can show mid-sized companies (50–500 employees) how to start small, move fast, and scale safely.

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