Spendesk Report: 67% of Finance Teams Use AI Tools
Spendesk, an AI-powered expense and procurement platform, has released its “Top CFO Tools Report 2026”, produced by CFO Connect – Europe’s largest community of finance executives, and moderated by Spendesk.
The report gathered information from 215 CFOs and senior finance executives, analysing their preferences for financial tools by category.
The categories include: cloud accounting, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), FP&A (Financial Planning & Analysis), expense management, billing and accounts receivable, procurement, payroll and HR, treasury and liquidity management, and AI tools.
The trends identified in the report demonstrate that the finance function is becoming more focused, more connected and increasingly powered by AI.
As finance teams operate with tighter, more coherent tool stacks, they are less likely to seek new solutions.
At the same time, AI is moving away from experimentation and towards everyday use, not as a separate category of tools but as an additional capability that enhances existing company systems.
- 67% of finance teams now use at least one AI tool, up from 56% in 2025 and 31% in 2024
- The report gathered information from 215 CFOs and senior finance executives
- Claude leads AI tool usage at 41%, ahead of Copilot, ChatGPT and Gemini
- More than 90% of finance teams now run on six tools or fewer
- The report covers nine tool categories, including cloud accounting, ERP, FP&A, expense management and AI tools.
How AI is reshaping financial technology
In the past two years, AI adoption has rapidly increased.
According to the report, 67% of finance teams now use at least one AI tool, up from 56% in 2025 and 31% in 2024.
Claude leads in terms of usage at 41%, ahead of Copilot, ChatGPT and Gemini.
The biggest use cases within finance teams include financial analysis, modelling and forecasting, reconciliations, data queries and workflow automation.
AI is increasingly acting as a cross-functional layer, helping teams analyse data across spreadsheets, financial systems and documents while accelerating the completion of repetitive tasks.
This shift is also shaping how finance teams are evolving their tech stacks. Instead of adding new tools, teams can extend the value of existing systems through automation and AI.
Speaking exclusively to Finance Chief, Pauline Babel, CFO at Spendesk, says: “Finance teams have spent the last decade adding another tool every time a new problem came up and we’ve now reached the point where that approach no longer scales.
“More than 90% of teams now run on six tools or fewer and I expect that number to keep moving in the same direction.”
She says that prioritising AI integration over implementing new tools will fundamentally change how the industry operates.
Pauline adds: “AI is going to be a big part of that shift but not because finance teams need another AI tool to add to the stack.
“The interesting bit is what happens when AI sits inside the systems they already use and can actually work across the data.
“Instead of pulling a report from one system, checking a spreadsheet and then chasing down an invoice somewhere else, you can ask a question and get to the answer much faster. But that only works if the underlying data is connected in the first place.”
More than 90% of teams now run on six tools or fewer and I expect that number to keep moving in the same direction.”
The importance of a connected data ecosystem
Finance teams are now moving on from using multiple sets of finance tools. More than 90% use six or fewer, highlighting a clear shift towards leaner, more intentional tech stacks.
The report suggests that the goal for finance teams isn’t to collect tools, but to build a connected ecosystem that scales with the business and gives teams the clarity they need to work faster and more efficiently.
Pauline explains that this can only be accomplished if data is connected across the firm’s entire financial ecosystem.
She describes her view of AI and the future, saying that there will be “fewer connected systems”, accessible data and AI “working across that information to help teams get to the right questions faster”.
She adds: “The finance function becomes less about assembling information to explain what happened, and more about using intelligence to help the business know what to do next.”
Spendesk's key partners:
Wise: Spendesk integrates with Wise to provide customers with fast, low-cost international payments and real-time multi-currency expense management.
CEO: Kristo Käärmann | Headquarters: London, UK
Personio: Spendesk integrates with Personio to automatically sync workforce data, streamlining employee onboarding, offboarding, and spend authorization processes seamlessly.
CEO: Hanno Renner | Headquarters: Munich, Germany
Xero: Spendesk integrates with Xero to automatically sync expense data, receipts, and invoices, simplifying bookkeeping and accelerating month-end reconciliations.
CEO: Sukhinder Singh Cassidy | Headquarters: Wellington, New Zealand
