The only unbiased newsletter in finance.

Let's dive in...

Forget the hype decks. CFOs who actually shipped AI in 2025 focused on one thing: removing friction inside finance.

At Canva , CFO Kelly Steckelberg said AI is now used daily to synthesize large datasets, stress-test scenarios, and automate reconciliations.

The payoff was not headcount reduction. It was speed and decision quality.

Zoom CFO Michelle Chang described using internal AI agents to handle tax inquiries, freeing teams from repetitive questions and shifting effort toward real tax strategy.

Across companies, the pattern is consistent.

AI is doing the first 70% of the work so humans can focus on judgment, exceptions, and risk.

It is workflow compression.

Is AI finally earning its keep inside finance? (and at what cost?)

According to the CFO Alliance’s Project Greenlight report, finance leaders believe 2026 will be the most pivotal year for the function in a decade.

The reason is simple.

CFOs spent much of 2025 pausing. Volatility, AI uncertainty, supply chain risk, and capital market noise pushed decisions into limbo.

CFO Alliance CEO Nick Araco JR says that era is over. The mandate now is informed execution. Data over debate. Action over alignment meetings.

Finance teams are being asked to move while uncertainty still exists.

Waiting for perfect clarity is no longer an option.

Is 2026 really a year of execution… or are most organizations still structurally unready to move fast?

(Do you think this is just new year hype?)

Is 4.6% unemployment the early sign CFOs should be preparing for demand shock, or just normalization after an overheated labor market?

The U.S. unemployment rate climbed to 4.6 percent, the highest level in more than four years.

That jump helps explain why the Fed cut rates in December. Officials are clearly prioritizing labor market stability over the still-not-dead inflation fight.

But this is where it gets uncomfortable for CFOs.

Wages remain sticky in pockets. Hiring is slowing, not collapsing. Layoffs are selective, not broad. And productivity expectations are rising even as teams thin out.

It is not a recession signal yet. But it is a warning that labor risk is back on the balance sheet.

Headline inflation unexpectedly dropped to 2.7%.

Markets barely moved.

Why? Because everyone knows the data is messy.

Government shutdowns delayed inputs.

Measurement gaps distorted comparisons.

Futures traders only slightly increased the odds of another near-term cut.

For CFOs, this creates a planning nightmare. Inflation looks tamed on paper, but costs are not behaving that way in reality. Insurance, cybersecurity, labor, logistics, and compliance all remain elevated.

The number says relief. The P&L says otherwise.

When inflation data is compromised, do CFOs plan off official prints, internal cost reality, or worst-case assumptions?

Should CFOs treat tax reporting complexity as a tech investment problem, or accept it as permanent operational drag?

New 1099 thresholds and expanded crypto reporting requirements are pushing compliance pain deep into accounts payable.

A new survey shows large companies can spend over 100 hours filing thousands of 1099s. And unlike W-2s, these forms touch vendors, contractors, platforms, and now digital asset activity.

This is not a policy problem in theory. It is an operational problem in practice.

AP teams are absorbing complexity created upstream by regulation, platforms, and decentralized work models. CFOs see it as compliance. Teams feel it as overload.

The Treasury Department projects a 3.2% increase in business tax preparation costs next year, totaling $131.8 billion in monetized time and compliance burden.

For finance teams, this is a capacity issue.

More rules mean more hours spent on compliance instead of planning.

Efficiency gains from automation are being partially offset by regulatory creep.

Can automation realistically outpace rising tax complexity… or is compliance now a permanent productivity tax?

Navan CFO Amy Butte will depart in January, shortly after helping take the travel platform public in October.

This is not uncommon. IPO CFOs often exit once the transaction phase ends and the public-company grind begins.

But it raises a bigger question.

Public markets are less forgiving. Forecasting scrutiny intensifies. Quarterly narratives harden. The job shifts from deal execution to expectation management.

The skill set changes. So does the appetite.

Are IPO CFO exits a red flag for post-public strategy, or simply the natural handoff between transaction leaders and operators?

Matteo Turi FCCA (CFO, board director, and advisor on $500M+ in capital raises) has built a practical framework that explains what investors actually underwrite: transferable value.

His High Valuation Code breaks valuation down into three levers CFOs can influence directly:

IP monetization

Succession and governance depth

Scalable, repeatable expansion models

The framework is built from real transactions across SaaS, healthcare, energy, and infrastructure; not startup folklore.

If you’re advising founders, preparing for capital raises, or thinking beyond top-line growth, it’s worth reviewing.

👉 Explore the High Valuation Code