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AI readiness, skills gaps top concerns of finance leaders

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AI readiness, skills gaps top concerns of finance leaders

Finance professionals expect artificial intelligence (AI) to significantly disrupt the profession over the next two years, but few feel equipped to harness the full potential of those tools.

New data from the AICPA and CIMA’s Future-Ready Finance: Technology, Productivity, and Skills Survey Report revealed a significant gap between finance professionals’ expectations of AI’s impact and their organisations’ readiness to adopt it.

The majority of respondents (56%) said generative AI has become the most prominent skills gap for their organisations in 2025. Overall, IT/tech skills also emerged as a leading priority (47%) this year, despite being considered a secondary concern (20%) in 2021.

“This highlights a strategic shift towards using advanced technology as a means of enhancing value and efficiency, rather than simply supporting operations,” the survey said.

However, many organisations are still struggling to shift gears. The survey found that while 88% believe AI will be the most transformative technology trend in accounting and finance over the next 12 to 24 months, only 8% said their organisation is “very well prepared” to manage this transformation.

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The AICPA and CIMA surveyed more than 1,400 members in senior finance and accounting roles globally in August and September.

The biggest barrier to technology adoption for companies this year was a lack of human capital, skills, and talent (50%), followed by safety and security concerns (47%) and doubts about technology maturity (42%).

“The advance of AI tools in the last two years is enabling a paradigm shift in how finance teams operate and the work they can do to generate value for their organisations,” Andrew Harding, FCMA, CGMA, chief executive–Management Accounting at the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, said in a news release. “While professionals recognise the potential on offer, many today feel underprepared and under-skilled. There’s a clear gap between anticipating disruption and taking action.”

To address skills gaps in finance teams, organisations favoured internal training programmes (62%) ahead of external training programmes (45%) and hiring new talent (35%), according to respondents. On-the-job training was ranked the most effective upskilling approach (61%) amongst finance professionals.  

Internal training can be flexible, hands-on, and adaptive, often developing through experimentation and adjustment. But while hiring can be seen as a reactive strategy that does not solve the industry-wide skills shortage, the survey said, it is often a necessary step for driving innovation, especially when internal capabilities are limited.

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Other key findings from the survey:

Productivity deficits hold back adoption. Lack of skills (41%) and low motivation (37%) were the top barriers to productivity, the release said, followed by incompatible technology systems and poor coordination in tech implementation (both at 32%).

Skills shortages extend beyond gen AI. Broader technology skills (AI, big data, cloud, Internet of Things, robotics) remain a concern (37%), alongside data and analytics (36%), the release said. Significant gaps also persist in areas such as communication, influencing, and critical thinking (33%) and business partnering (32%).

Learning preferences should guide skills strategy. “The dominance of internal training and the strong preference for on-the-job learning indicate a clear path forward,” the survey said. “Strategic investment must be channelled into practical, accessible, and continuous upskilling programmes and collaborative projects to bridge the readiness gap and unlock productivity gains.”

— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Steph Brown at Stephanie.Brown@aicpa-cima.com.

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Finance

Low-income Chinese girl aces gaokao, inspires live-streamers offering help

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Low-income Chinese girl aces gaokao, inspires live-streamers offering help

A girl from a disadvantaged rural family in central China topped this year’s gaokao, attracting numerous live-streamers eager to finance her education, which she declined.

The home of 18-year-old secondary school graduate Han Yaping in a Henan province village was recently bustling with live-streamers.

This attention came after Han achieved an impressive score of 699 out of 750 in the gaokao, China’s national college entrance exam.

She has received offers from China’s two leading universities, Tsinghua University and Peking University.

Han’s accomplishment is particularly remarkable given her family’s impoverished circumstances.

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Her mother suffers from ankylosing spondylitis, an inflammatory arthritis affecting the spine, preventing her from working. Her father, who earns a living through farming and odd jobs, serves as the family’s sole provider. Han also has a younger sister.

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UK financial regulator publishes landmark AI review

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UK financial regulator publishes landmark AI review

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a landmark review on Monday that proposes recommendations to regulate the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the financial decisions made by consumers.

The review, titled the Mills Review, anticipates that both consumers and firms will start delegating “more financial decision-making to AI systems,” including for agreements, initiating transactions, and executing decisions “within agreed parameters.” One of the key findings of the review outlined that while AI can help bridge advice gaps and “support growth,” there remain risks “associated with fraud, cyber security, and consumer harm.” Conducting the review, Sheldon Mills highlighted that “AI can also amplify risks: bias, discrimination, exclusion, opaque decision-making (particularly when multiple AI models interact), misleading or hallucinatory advice and erosion of consumer trust.”

The review stated that presently, one in five adults in the UK are “already open to AI making decisions for them,” particularly when decisions feel “complex or high stakes.” It found that roughly 26 percent of the population “trust general-purpose tools such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini for financial advice” with little awareness that such platforms provide no “formal routes to recourse” or protections.

Overall, the Mills Review identified four areas that it anticipates will be impacted by AI in the financial sector: “the transformation of firms,” “new consumer journeys,” “a reshaped competition landscape,” and “amplified financial crime and cyber risk.” The FCA projected the shift in how consumers and firms consult AI to take place by 2030.

The Mills Review put forth seven “priority” recommendations to be considered by the FCA Board. It recommended that any transitions to autonomous AI models be monitored and that regulatory frameworks and perimeters be adapted and secured. The review called for the strengthening of “system-wide coordination and oversight,” the scaling up of the FCA’s AI Lab to enable it to support AI models and innovation for agentic finance, and an “AI-enabled agentic supervisory model” to be built and adopted.   Finally, it recommended that a trusted “public-interest AI-enabled financial capability service” be developed.

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The FCA announced, in the press release, that it will launch an AI “good and poor practice publication” in late 2026.

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Fayette County Public Schools Board of Education approves audit contract, new finance director position

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Fayette County Public Schools Board of Education approves audit contract, new finance director position

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – The Fayette County Public Schools Board of Education approved a one-year audit contract capped at $131,750 plus $225 per hour during a virtual meeting Monday, along with a new finance director job description.

The contract is with Mauldin & Jenkins Certified Public Accountants, an Atlanta-based firm, and covers the 2025-26 fiscal year and the restatement of the 2024-25 fiscal year and ancillary services through FY 2029-2030. The work is set to be completed by Nov. 15.

The board approved the contract in a 5-0 vote.

Audit contract details

Interim Chief Financial Officer Kyna Koch said the cost is already accounted for in the district’s budget.

“And is actually less than we expected given our current situation — we were thrilled with the bid,” Koch said.

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Koch said she believes this is Mauldin & Jenkins’ first school district audit in Kentucky, but that the firm works with school districts of more than 100,000 students throughout the Southeast.

“Quite frankly when I spoke to the folks at KDE they were thrilled because we’re running kind of short of auditors who want to do school district audits — so all around I think this was a win-win for everyone,” Koch said.

New finance director position

The board also approved a new job description for the position of Director of Finance. Acting Superintendent Dr. Bill Bradford said the title will replace two associate director positions.

“Which will not only save the school district money but it’s also going to streamline our work and align internal controls to make room for a more efficient unit,” Bradford said.

Koch said the position will be posted as soon as possible following the board’s approval.

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Closed session

The board went into closed session for more than an hour to discuss pending investigations that could lead to employee discipline. When the board returned, it took no action and adjourned the meeting.

Copyright 2026 WKYT. All rights reserved.

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