Stuart Lang and Dave Helmer of EY share exclusive insights on the future of the finance function. The message is clear: As data, AI and technology rise to the top of the CFO agenda, organizations are seeking advisors with the scale and expertise to accelerate transformation and drive strategic value
The modern CFO and Head of Tax face a landscape defined by rapid, interconnected change: widening talent gaps, regulatory shifts like legislative and regulatory reforms, and business model transformation. Against this backdrop, EY Global Tax and Finance Operate Leader Stuart Lang and EY Global Managed Services Partner Dave Helmer shared insights from their latest Tax and Finance Operations (TFO) Survey.
The key takeaway? Transformation is no longer a one-time project; it’s a continuous way of operating. Finance leaders aren’t just building flexible, data? driven models—they’re shaping operating structures that can absorb and adapt to whatever the future brings.
The biggest change in the survey results compared to the previous year is the dramatic pivot in perceived barriers to success.
“It’s a really interesting dynamic that’s pivoted from highly cost-conscious 18 months ago, to now looking at the need to have trusted data technology and execute on the strategy,” notes Stuart Lang.
In this year’s survey, the most significant challenges CFOs and tax leaders are facing are:
The survey confirms that CFOs are actively restructuring their finance and tax operating models to manage the twin threats of geopolitical turbulence and evolving trade policies. A staggering 81% of companies are predicting moderate to significant changes to their business operations, including their supply chains, over the next 24 months.
The response is two-fold: Centralization and Data-Readiness.
This need for a centralized, coordinated view is compounded by regulatory pressures such as BEPS, with 59% working with a third-party provider to comply with requirements
Similarly, the percentage of companies planning to voluntarily disclose taxes paid has jumped to 80% this year, up from 56% last year and 37% just a couple of years ago.
AI is top-of-mind for every client, but the survey reveals a clear preference for how to acquire this capability.
Despite the significant buzz around Generative AI, the path to adoption for tax and finance functions shows a clear preference for leverage over internal development. The survey reveals a striking difference in strategy: an overwhelming 83% of companies indicate that the most significant way to take advantage of AI is by working with a service provider that has AI, workflow, and analytics built right into their service offering. This strategic choice reflects the difficulty and risk of building, maintaining, and constantly updating sophisticated AI capabilities in-house, especially when contrasted with the mere 8% of companies that prioritize individually developing and deploying their own AI agents. This suggests that partnering with an established platform offers a faster, more secure, and less risky route to achieving an agile, AI-driven operating model.
Dave Helmer attributes this to the speed of change, noting that working with a provider who has scale, a platform approach, and alliances is “a less risky and potentially cheaper way” than building internally and having to continuously retrofit.
The current priority areas for AI deployment are focused on predictable, ‘yes or no’ outcomes, which include:
However, the maturity level is still low, with 41% of companies in the exploratory phase and 18% non-existent in their AI development. The single greatest barrier to advancing an AI strategy remains insufficient AI-ready data.
Furthermore, Stuart Lang suggests that trust is still an issue, particularly for large language models (LLMs) used in the probability-based world of strategic finance.
Looking ahead, Stuart Lang expects the conversation to move away from the fundamentals of automation and basics towards driving value. “I would expect forward – thinking CFOs and Heads of Tax to start moving away from automation … and pushing the boundaries of they can leverage the fundamentals to drive value for their organization,” he predicts.
This may even lead to the CFO challenging departmental and business strategies based on insights derived from the broad organizational data they now access.
Dave Helmer concurs, predicting that data, technology, and AI will continue to play a much bigger role in relieving the pressures around the talent gap, tariffs, and legislative disruption.