Rolls-Royce, Spendesk & Tobii and 5 Top Stories of the Week

Rolls-Royce Commits £300m in the UK for Manufacturing

As part of a transformation programme announced in 2023, Rolls-Royce has invested £300m (US$397.6m) into its manufacturing and engineering facilities, boosting UK growth for Rolls Royce’s Civil and Aerospace Defence business. 

Since the programme’s launch, Rolls Royce has already committed £3bn (US$3bn) to the UK. 

The investment signals a renewed commitment to the company’s home turf, where it was incorporated in 1906. 

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.

Tobii Names Acting CFO Amid Search For Replacement

Tobii has announced that Martin Johansson has been appointed as Acting Chief Financial Officer, effective 30 September 2026.

Prior to his appointment, Martin served as Sales Controller at Tobii, a position he had held since first joining the company in 2022. 

Martin has an extensive background in finance, with more than 15 years working in international organisations, most recently at Ubisoft Entertainment, and prior to that at Duni AB and Axis Communications.

Martin succeeds Åsa Wirén, who has served as Tobii’s Interim CFO since May 2025. Åsa will continue to support Tobii during the transition period.

Salesforce: CFOs are Turning to AI to Fight Complexity

In a new report from Salesforce, AI seems to be the fallback for finance executives globally when it comes to conversations about saving time.

The research points to a change in the CFO role, with more responsibility resting on the tech side in place of finance. 

Salesforce’s CFO Priorities report also points towards revenue complexity as a reason for increased strain on finance teams. 

The survey covered three continents, spanning 865 finance leaders. 

Relief can be found through the use of agentic AI, with up to 90% of respondents reporting benefits such as time-saving, productivity and cost savings, alongside forecast accuracy. 

Speaking to Finance Chief exclusively, Paul O’Sullivan, CTO of Salesforce UK says: “Nearly seven in 10 finance leaders tell us their role has expanded in the past year, and it's not one thing driving that, it's the accumulation.

"More revenue models, more sales channels, more governance and compliance to manage, each one adds friction, and finance ends up absorbing it. 

Deloitte: CFO Confidence on the Rise Despite Macroeconomics

Deloitte notes a rebound in CFO confidence in its latest North American CFO Signals survey. 

The first increase in confidence in 2026, Deloitte reports that scores have risen from 5.9 in Q2 to 6.1, placing it back in the “high” category, which is defined as between 6.0 and 7.9. 

The score is calculated by averaging the scores of five current and five future business environment questions, and then discounting it with the US equity markets and equity financing conditions by 80%. Debt-financing conditions are discounted by 50%.