AI can help the team close the books, but it won’t be the one explaining a bad number to the board.

Here, the distinction matters as finance teams use AI across processes that eventually feed the financial statements. At Garner Health, CFO Jake Shuster is building toward public-company rigor, even though he stressed that a stock market debut isn’t imminent.

“We are not IPOing today or anytime soon,” Shuster told CFO Upside. The healthcare company, which helps businesses address healthcare costs, recently moved from QuickBooks to NetSuite and switched auditors to PwC as it builds more sophisticated finance operations.

Shuster shared how there’s plenty of AI in that plan. He said Garner, which is approaching 750 employees, has just four people in accounting and three in FP&A. “Everything from bank reconciliations to monthly close processes to building the reforecast to coming up with the right dashboards to review performance is all really being generated through Claude,” he said.

That’s a lot of ground for a small team to cover, and Shuster sees accounting expertise as essential to making the arrangement work. “They still have to have the expertise to understand what good looks like,” he said. “But then they need to take their expertise of what good looks like and translate it into really automated processes.”

Pretty Please, CFO?

Kenneth Paqvalén, CFO of Aptitude Software, which provides finance data and accounting technology, said finance chiefs need to spell out AI’s role before putting it to work.

“There is a difference between asking it to analyze data, make a recommendation, prepare a journal for a person to approve and act autonomously,” Paqvalén told CFO Upside. “Those uses carry different levels of risk and need different controls.”

He wants finance teams to be able to trace an output back to the underlying transaction and the accounting rule behind it. A process that can produce an entry, he said, should also have a way to handle an exception or reverse a mistake. “I’d want a human approval step for AI-prepared journals before considering more autonomous action,” he said.

Though Paqvalén’s company sells technology to finance departments, he said its own team still has work to do. Aptitude has begun evaluating its technology internally, and he would be reluctant to deploy AI where its scope was unclear or its output couldn’t be traced.

“The CFO remains accountable,” he said. “If AI produces a number and it’s wrong, it’s still my name on the financial statements, not the AI vendor’s.”

For Dean Quiambao, partner and Northern California market leader at Armanino, the questions extend to whoever sets up the agent in the first place. He says the promise of a faster close still comes with familiar responsibilities around who can change the system and who checks its work.

“Companies need to establish clear controls governing what AI agents can do, who can modify their behavior and how their actions are reviewed and approved,” Quiambao told CFO Upside.

An agent’s journal entry needs enough supporting information for an accountant to evaluate its accuracy. Someone also needs to keep track of changes to the technology producing it. “There should also be appropriate separation between employees who configure the AI tools and those responsible for approving the accounting outcomes,” he said.

Putting a person in the process creates its own assignment, too. That person needs to understand the calculation and have access to the information behind it. The business then needs documentation showing the review happened. “Ultimately, auditors need to be able to understand how financial decisions were made, whether the appropriate approvals occurred and whether the controls operated effectively,” Quiambao said.

Access Denied

The stakes become especially easy to understand when the agent gets near the bank account. Irina Berkon, CFO of Metallicus, which develops blockchain infrastructure for financial institutions, said existing ideas about payment authorization need to carry into AI-driven workflows.

“An AI system might be permitted to prepare or initiate a payment request, but that shouldn’t automatically give it the authority to approve and execute the transaction,” Berkon told CFO Upside.

She described an agent identifying an invoice that meets payment criteria. The transaction would still have to satisfy spending limits and approved recipient requirements, alongside the institution’s other controls. “For higher-value or unusual transactions, human approval or multiple independent authorizations should remain mandatory,” she said.

Adding another agent to check the first one’s work doesn’t automatically settle the oversight question, either. “We should also recognize that multiple AI agents do not necessarily provide independent oversight if they share the same underlying permissions or vulnerabilities,” Berkon said.

That warning complicates the promise of AI freeing up the finance team’s time, since adding another agent to review the work could still leave the same mistakes slipping through.

Accountants Still Count: Shuster’s approach at Garner points to the people needed alongside that technology, whose accounting judgment becomes part of making the automation work. “We need accountants who are thoughtful about what would be an optimal process versus just doing the process,” he said.

Designing that process includes deciding which actions require approval and making sure someone can explain the result afterward. Those responsibilities travel with the automation, however quickly the software finishes. Paqvalén put it plainly: “The controls need to be built into the accounting process, not left to a prompt.”

Cannabis businesses have long operated on high hopes and even higher tax bills.

Some relief may be coming as cannabis rescheduling eases the burden of Section 280E, a federal tax provision that bars cannabis operators from deducting ordinary business expenses.

Andrew Hunzicker, founder and CEO of the national cannabis accounting training program DOPE CFO, expects it to give the industry’s accountants plenty to do.

In a recent interview with CFO Upside, Hunzicker detailed how his training business grew in 2026, detailing how DOPE CFO is now drawing interest from experienced accountants who have been laid off and others who have become worried about their job security as firms of all sizes turn to overseas labor and AI.

Meanwhile, cannabis operators are navigating changes he believes could improve profitability and increase demand for such specialized financial expertise.

A New Leaf

Hunzicker said he speaks with roughly 10 to 15 accountants a week and is increasingly hearing from experienced professionals who have lost their jobs or worry they could be next. Some have major accounting firm experience and lengthy resumes that have done little to ease a difficult job search.

“It’s just a rugged time for public accounting, and I think it’s only going to get worse with AI,” he said.

Hunzicker said even accountants with decades of experience and Big Four backgrounds are struggling to find work. “Even if they could land a job, it’s at a huge pay cut,” he said.

“Private equity on the other side is gobbling up all kinds of firms and rolling them up, and what does private equity do? They say ‘How can we cut costs?’” he continued. “You move the work overseas and into AI.”

These cuts are generating interest in DOPE CFO, although Hunzicker is running into a challenge: Accountants who have already been laid off can struggle to afford the training, currently advertised at just under $5,000 after promotions.

Still, he noted the education business is growing. “We had our best year in the last three,” he said.

Higher Margins

Hunzicker’s optimism for accounting work in cannabis centers partly on the financial implications of moving medical marijuana to Schedule III and the resulting relief from that buzzkill, Section 280E.

He says the combined tax burden on medical cannabis businesses could fall substantially as operators gain access to deductions previously unavailable to them. For some companies, he estimates, the difference could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars or more.

His hypothetical example: A dispensary that previously broke even could generate $1 million in net income after its tax bill falls.

“That’s life-changing kind of money for a small business owner and investor,” he said.

He expects stronger profitability to attract additional capital, a welcome development for cannabis operators that many lenders and financing companies still refuse to serve. The barriers extend beyond lending to technology, with some ERP providers and finance and accounting SaaS vendors also declining to work with cannabis businesses.

Investors have already backed the industry despite its constraints, Hunzicker noted, and stronger cash flow gives them another reason to look. He said he is already seeing more capital enter the industry in 2026 and expects that activity to increase as the regulatory picture develops.

“Of course, investors and lenders are going to be diving in because [the industry’s profitability] is just so much better than before,” Hunzicker said.

Tax relief, on top of helping cannabis operators in both cultivation and retail, also changes the work awaiting the accountants for both. Hunzicker argues that a business gaining access to more deductions and credits will need help evaluating those opportunities.

“Now that they do get all the deductions and credits, a tax return might go from 20 pages to 200,” he said.

That is why he expects DOPE CFO’s existing training to remain relevant, as detailed cost accounting still matters. So does helping operators understand their performance and prepare to raise capital. When asked what the program would teach as cannabis rules change, he offered a familiar syllabus.

“Same exact thing we teach them now because it’s not going to change that much,” he said. “It’s actually more complicated.”

Hunzicker’s outlook extends beyond the benefits of 2026’s medical marijuana rescheduling. He believes 2027 could bring something close to full legalization, with the potential to accelerate demand for both DOPE CFO programs and accounting talent that specializes in cannabis finance.

Hunzicker said he is also watching the midterms ahead of tighter federal hemp restrictions taking effect Dec. 11. The changes will bring many hemp-derived THC seltzers and gummies under federal marijuana controls by stripping hemp status from finished products containing more than 0.4 milligrams per container of total THC and other cannabinoids with similar effects.

That threatens a market that has reached consumers outside state-licensed marijuana dispensaries, including in states that restrict recreational marijuana. Hunzicker pointed to Texas: “You can go buy THC in a gas station in Denton, Texas today,” he said. He believes a Democratic takeover of the House could create an opening for broader cannabis and hemp reform.

Smoke ’Em if You’ve Got ’Em. Hunzicker expects consumer demand to endure and anticipates litigation if the December restrictions threaten that market. “I don’t think a $30 billion industry is going to go away,” he said.

In the advertising business, cultural relevance can help sell a campaign, but any CFO still wants to know what’s left after the production bill gets paid.

At My Code, which helps brands reach multicultural audiences through advertising and custom content, cultural relevance means understanding how an audience’s background shapes the messages it responds to. CFO Ying Miao’s job is to make sure that expertise translates into profitable work, while keeping production costs and client payment timelines from eating into the returns.

“I do not challenge whether the campaign matters culturally. I am not the right person to judge that, and the creative team is usually right. I challenge the math,” Miao told CFO Upside in a recent interview. Miao, who joined My Code in August, was drawn to the job’s reach across the company, including decisions about sales compensation and hiring. Her early work there has involved rebuilding financial reporting while adjusting to clients who are taking longer to commit.

A Different Pitch

Asked how political contention around diversity, equity and inclusion is affecting clients, Miao said the language has changed more than the dollars spent. Marketing briefs increasingly emphasize growth audiences and cultural relevance, and My Code’s largest enterprise accounts are ahead of last year, she said. “The budgets for reaching Hispanic, Black and [Asian American and Pacific Islander] consumers have not gone away, because those consumers have not gone away,” she said.

It’s the buying process that has become more complicated. Some spending previously designated for multicultural marketing now sits within general marketing plans, requiring My Code to compete for it on performance. Smaller campaigns tied to cultural moments are particularly vulnerable when clients get nervous, she said. “So we watch the stage of our pipeline, not just the size of it.”

For Miao, that makes the progress of a prospective deal more useful than the headline value of the pipeline. She examines how much business needed to finish the quarter is already in negotiation, compared with opportunities still at the proposal stage. “A big pipeline of early-stage deals that take longer to close is not the same thing as revenue, and this year it has been taking longer,” she said.

My Code reforecast conservatively this year, according to Miao. Its 2027 growth plans emphasize connected TV and programmatic advertising, without counting on a rebound in identity-driven budgets. “If that comes back, it is upside, not the plan,” Miao said with no pun intended.

Winning the work is only part of the calculation, however, because custom content and integrated campaigns can become more expensive after the contract is signed, leaving My Code to absorb additional production costs.

“The first step was simply getting production costs tracked by month and by campaign because you cannot find overservicing if the only person tracking the cost is the person doing the work,” Miao said. Monthly budget reviews with department heads now help surface those costs, she said. The 2027 budget will put revenue alongside delivery expenses by division, giving managers a clearer view of what the work earns.

Payment terms belong in that discussion, too. “A large client that pays in 90-plus days is less profitable than the rate card says it is,” she said. Miao runs a rolling weekly cash flow forecast and expects some December collections to slip into January.

Weekly updates to the board and lenders explain changes in the sales pipeline, while tracking client response rates helps her spot trouble earlier. “Activity slows before revenue does, and I want to see the slowdown before it hits the P&L,” she said.

Making the Case

Those frequent decisions require financial information that managers can use. When Miao arrived, the accounting system’s structure did not match the organization, making departmental budget comparisons a manual monthly exercise. “You cannot manage what takes three weeks to see,” she said.

She said her team is aligning the chart of accounts with the organization and simplifying the department structure. My Code has also signed with a new FP&A platform, which it plans to connect to its major financial systems. Miao pushed for uncapped licenses during contract negotiations so employees, with appropriate permissions, could see performance against the plan.

The same demand for visibility extends to campaign results at the company. Much of the evidence sits with clients, she said, and she wants more post-campaign data to compare performance with their general-market benchmarks. “I want us building the case with numbers, not with conviction,” she said.

She also rejects the idea that cultural targeting and consumer behavior have to compete as marketing strategies. “Behavior tells you who is in market, and culture tells you how to talk to them so they actually respond,” she said.

Ideas for Sale: Internally, a campaign that loses money can still earn her backing if the team can show a specific payoff, such as a renewal or content the company can reuse. “Sometimes they can, and then I will defend it to the board as an investment. Sometimes they cannot, and then we scope it down rather than kill it,” Miao said. Making that exchange productive is part of the CFO’s job. “Once the numbers are on the table, both sides are usually closer than they think.”