Finance operations show up in every AI adoption survey as one of the first functions to automate and one of the hardest to finish. We assembled the numbers that matter for finance teams in agribusiness and food companies, with a source for every stat. Where a survey publishes a finance-function cut we use it; industry-level agribusiness data is labeled as such.
Adoption jumped, then hit a wall.
Finance functions adopted AI faster than almost any back-office function in 2024, then stalled. The gap between having AI and running on AI is where most teams sit today.
Share of finance functions using AI in 2025. Adoption jumped from 37% in 2023 to 58% in 2024, then went flat.
Gartner, AI in Finance Survey (2025) · 183 CFOs and senior finance leaders
Share of CFOs actually using AI in their finance function today, versus 35% still in pilots or proofs of concept. Production use remains rare.
L.E.K. Consulting, Office of the CFO Survey (2025) · ~100 CFOs across industries
US finance organizations that plan to deploy or scale AI within 18 months. The intent is near-universal even where production use is thin.
KPMG, Global AI in Finance (2026) · 1,013 senior finance leaders globally, $250M+ revenue
CFOs who expect AI to be extremely or very important to how their finance department operates in 2026. Only 2% say it won't matter.
Deloitte, Q4 2025 CFO Signals (2026) · 200 North American CFOs, $1B+ revenue
What finance teams automate first.
The pattern across surveys: document-heavy, rule-heavy processes go first. Accounts payable is the beachhead.
Finance functions with AI that use it for knowledge management, the most common use case. AP process automation is second at 37%, error and anomaly detection third at 34%.
Gartner, AI in Finance Survey (2025) · 183 CFOs and senior finance leaders, AI adopters
AP teams using AI in any capacity today. Another 34% plan to adopt within 12 months; 22% have no plans.
Ardent Partners, State of ePayables (2025) · 204 AP and finance leaders
US companies using AI inside the financial reporting process itself, with 58% piloting or deploying generative AI in finance.
KPMG, AI in Finance (2024) · 300 US finance leaders
The returns are real and slower than the pitch.
Finance leaders reporting AI ROI meeting (46%) or exceeding (28%) expectations.
KPMG, Global AI in Finance (2026) · 1,013 senior finance leaders globally
Finance organizations that said AI implementation ran slower than expected in 2025. Efficiency gains show up (66% cite them); the timeline is the surprise.
Organizations across functions that saw AI payback in under a year. Most take 2 to 4 years, against the 7 to 12 months typical for tech investments. (EMEA sample.)
Deloitte, AI ROI study (2025) · 1,854 senior executives, 14 EMEA countries
Agents moved onto the CFO agenda.
CFOs who say integrating AI agents into the finance department is a transformation priority.
Deloitte, Q4 2025 CFO Signals (2026) · 200 North American CFOs, $1B+ revenue
US finance organizations already planning to orchestrate or develop multi-agent AI systems.
KPMG, Global AI in Finance (2026) · 163 US finance leaders
Operations departments using AI agents at organizations that deploy them, second only to technology at 95%. Finance shared-services sit inside this wave.
KPMG, AI Quarterly Pulse Q3 (2025) · 130 US C-suite leaders, $1B+ revenue
The readiness gap is the real story.
Finance leaders believe AI will change their profession more than anything else on the horizon. Almost none of them feel ready for it, and the blocker every survey points to is understanding the work itself before automating it.
Finance leaders who believe AI will change accounting and finance more than any other trend in the next 12 to 24 months, versus those who feel very well prepared for it.
AICPA & CIMA, Future-Ready Finance Survey (2025) · 1,446 senior finance and accounting leaders
CFOs who rate their finance function's AI preparedness as leading or advanced, while 80% expect AI-enabled business models within 12 months.
EY, Global DNA of the CFO (2026) · 1,610 CFOs and heads of finance, $1B+ orgs
Accountants and CFOs who say AI has become integral to their daily work, even though roughly 75% have used it. Adoption is wide and shallow.
FloQast + University of Georgia, AI Collaboration study (2025) · 515 finance and accounting professionals, 12 countries
Where agribusiness sits in all this.
No survey publishes an agribusiness finance cut, so read the function data above against the industry picture: food and ag companies are late adopters at the sector level, with the manufacturing side investing fastest. For a finance team, that lag is leverage over slower peers.
Agriculture (grouped with construction) had the lowest AI-use rate of any US sector in 2023-24, versus 18.1% for the information sector. The sector starts from the back of the pack.
US Census Bureau, BTOS working paper (2024) · ~164,500 US businesses
CPG and food & beverage manufacturers that have invested in AI/ML or plan to within 12 months. The processing side of the industry is moving much faster than the farm gate.
Rockwell Automation, State of Smart Manufacturing: CPG Edition (2025) · CPG/F&B subset of 1,560 manufacturers
Food retailers with an organization-wide generative AI solution for operations, versus their suppliers. Suppliers (the agribusiness side) are ahead of the retail channel.
FMI, The Food Retailing Industry Speaks (2026) · 70 US food retailers and wholesalers
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