Corporate Finance Enters a Golden Age as AI and Autonomous Agents Redefine the Office of the CFO

Auditoria’s sixth annual State of AI Automation in the Finance Office Report reveals rising adoption of generative AI and autonomous agents, but persistent bottlenecks in document extraction and shared inboxes continue to slow progress

SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 29, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Auditoria.AI, the leader in agentic artificial intelligence for the Office of the CFO, today unveiled its 2025 State of AI Automation in the Finance Office Report, The Golden Age of Finance Transformation, highlighting both the remarkable momentum and stubborn challenges shaping finance’s transformation. Now in its sixth year, the research captures insights from more than 250 finance and accounting professionals, revealing that generative AI has overtaken earlier machine learning and deterministic automation models as the most influential trend, autonomous agents have emerged as a new force in finance operations, and basic automation adoption has reached its highest level to date.

“Across the finance function, we are hearing the same story from analysts, customers, and now from our survey respondents,” said Rohit Gupta, CEO and Co-Founder of Auditoria.AI. “AI has moved from theory to practice. The profession is optimistic, adoption is on the rise, and generative AI and autonomous agents are shaping a new era. Yet, the frustrations are real — inbox overload, document extraction, and coordination costs continue to drain resources. This report reflects the pulse of the industry, showing both the breakthroughs and the bottlenecks finance leaders must address.”

Finance offices at a tipping point
The report identifies 2025 as the beginning of a “Golden Age of Transformation” in the finance office. Generative AI has surpassed traditional AI and machine learning as the most influential technology, with 25.9% of finance professionals calling it the top trend. Autonomous agents, digital teammates that can act, support decisions, and shape outcomes, made their debut in the survey results and already rank third at 16.5%.

Despite this momentum, finance remains burdened by manual processes. Accounts Receivable has now overtaken Accounts Payable as the most manual function at 21.7%, while Financial Reporting and Analysis has nearly doubled since 2021 to reach 19.3%. Document extraction is once again cited as the number one challenge, unchanged at 19.5%. Shared inbox volumes continue to climb, with 72.2% of finance teams receiving 100 to 1,000 emails per week.

Key findings from the 2025 report

• Data extraction from documents remains the #1 challenge (19.5%), underscoring persistent struggles with unstructured data.
• Shared inbox volumes are rising sharply, with 42.9% of teams receiving 100–500 emails weekly and 29.3% receiving 500–1000.
• Coordination now trumps execution as the biggest time drain, with 20.9% citing data gathering and 20.3% citing stakeholder communication.
• Responsiveness, bad data, and email volume top daily pain points, with approval delays also on the rise.
• Basic automation adoption hits a record 47.5%, but fewer than one in ten teams have moved beyond early-stage adoption.
• Generative AI overtakes traditional AI/ML as the most influential trend (25.9%), with autonomous agents debuting at 16.5% and RPA falling to 5.6%.
• 72.1% of finance professionals are satisfied with their work, including 35.4% who are very satisfied, while 21.3% say they spend too much time chasing information.
  
  

Rising coordination costs and time lost to communication
The report also reveals that the greatest time drain is no longer execution but coordination. Gathering data and communicating with stakeholders together account for over 40% of the daily workload, edging out time spent on analysis and insight generation.

“Finance is standing at a historic crossroads,” said Rohit Gupta, CEO and Co-Founder of Auditoria.AI. “AI has moved from hype to real adoption. Generative AI and autonomous agents are no longer experiments—they’ve become copilots, keeping humans in the loop for complex decisions, and autopilots, automating the routine. Together they are reshaping how finance operates. But too many teams remain bogged down by inboxes, approvals, and unstructured data. The leaders who break through these bottlenecks will unlock unprecedented speed, accuracy, and strategic impact.”

From scribes to strategists
Other findings point to a profession steadily evolving from repetitive task managers to AI-augmented advisors. Basic automation is now the norm, but advanced adoption remains limited. Encouragingly, finance professionals continue to show optimism, with high levels of job satisfaction even as they wrestle with daily inefficiencies.

“The script of finance’s future is being written now, and AI is the pen,” added Gupta. “Whether you’re a CFO steering strategy or an accounts receivable manager reducing bottlenecks, the opportunities to accelerate value creation with AI have never been clearer.”

The full 2025 State of AI Automation in the Finance Office Report is available for download at www.auditoria.ai.

About Auditoria.AI
Auditoria.AI is the leader in intelligent applications for corporate finance, helping finance teams automate business processes in AP, AR, GL, and FP&A to accelerate cash performance. Auditoria’s AI TeamMates, including SmartBots and SmartResearch, integrate with systems of record and financial data feeds to streamline collections, optimize spend management, digitize documentation, and deliver real-time financial insight.

Finance teams at leading enterprises—including Blackbaud, Bring IT, Brown & Brown, Secureworks, Denny’s, Freshworks, and UserTesting—use Auditoria to accelerate business value while minimizing IT involvement, improving resilience, and enhancing insight.

Give your finance teams superpowers at Auditoria.AI.

Media Contact:
Nick Ezzo
nick.ezzo@auditoria.ai

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