AI for Finance Teams¶
In one line: Use AI to draft commentary, reconcile and explain variances, summarise contracts and filings, and speed up spreadsheet work, while keeping numbers in tools that calculate (not in a model's memory) and following the rules that already govern your records and customer data. Last reviewed: 2026-11-07
The short version¶
- A language model is not a calculator. Have it write the formula, the SQL or the Python, then run that. Do not accept a total it produced in prose.
- Strong uses: variance commentary, board-pack drafts, invoice and contract extraction, policy Q&A, formula help, forecasting scaffolding you then check.
- Financial records and customer financial data carry legal duties. Use approved tools only, and keep an audit trail of what was generated and who approved it.
- In regulated firms, existing rules still apply to AI. FINRA's Regulatory Notice 24-09 says its rules and the federal securities laws apply when member firms use generative AI, whether the tool is built in-house, bought, or embedded in existing software, and that the notice creates no new requirements. (read 2026-11-07)
- Judgment page: this is not accounting, tax or legal advice.
Where it fits¶
| Task | AI helps with | You still own |
|---|---|---|
| Month-end | Variance explanations, journal descriptions, checklists | Posting, sign-off, controls |
| FP&A | Scenario scaffolding, commentary drafts, formula writing | Assumptions and the forecast |
| AP/AR | Extracting fields from invoices, drafting chase emails | Approvals and payment release |
| Audit support | Summarising evidence, mapping controls | Conclusions and judgment |
| Compliance | First-pass policy Q&A, reviewing marketing text against internal rules | Final compliance call |
Copyable prompts¶
Variance commentary (give the numbers as a table you computed)
Here are actual vs budget by line for [period]: [table]. Write a 150-word
commentary for a non-finance executive. Use only these figures. For each
variance over [threshold] list the likely drivers as questions for the
budget owner; do not invent causes.
Formula or script
In a spreadsheet, column A is invoice date, B is amount, C is customer.
Write a formula that sums amounts per customer for the last calendar
quarter. Explain it in two sentences and give one test case I can check by
hand.
Controls to keep¶
- Separate the person who generates from the person who approves.
- Keep prompts and outputs for anything that reaches a filing, a customer or an auditor.
- Never let an AI agent release a payment without a human approval step. See agent security.
- Customer financial data: the US FTC's Safeguards Rule page says covered companies must run a formal information security program with administrative, technical and physical safeguards. (read 2026-11-07)
Common mistakes¶
- Pasting a model's arithmetic into a report.
- Sending account-level customer data to an unapproved tool.
- Treating a forecast from a model as an analysis rather than a draft.
Next steps¶
Sources¶
- FINRA Regulatory Notice 24-09: https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/notices/24-09 (fetched 2026-11-07)
- FTC, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act business guidance: https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/privacy-security/gramm-leach-bliley-act (fetched 2026-11-07; page summary was short)
- A CFPB page on AI and credit denials was tried and returned 404, so it is not cited.