By Steve Saah, Executive Director of Finance and Accounting Permanent Placement, Robert HalfInvesting in technology like AI is one of several critical steps leaders of small and midsize businesses will want to make sooner than later if they want to position their company — and their employees — for future success.When you bring predictive analytics, generative AI and other advanced technologies into everyday workflows at your business, you’re taking on much more than a technology upgrade. You’re setting in motion a wave of transformation that can positively impact every aspect of your operations, from driving team productivity to increasing efficiency to enhancing customer satisfaction.A great place to start implementing AI capabilities is in your finance and accounting operations. These critical functions are ripe with practical use cases for AI. Here are some ways the strategic use of AI and analytics tools in finance and accounting can help you make the best use of your people and their skills.
Leading finance and accounting organizations have long relied on robotic process automation (RPA) to handle back-office tasks like data entry and basic financial reporting. Some of these solutions incorporate AI.However, it is intelligent process automation (IPA) — RPA enhanced with AI and machine learning — that allows businesses to automate more sophisticated tasks, helping them streamline and improve the quality of more complex work like payroll processing and risk analysis.You don’t have to be a big company to take advantage of these game-changing tools. If your small or midsize business has straightforward, repetitive tasks in finance and accounting but a limited technology budget, then RPA can be a cost-effective solution for automation that yields quick results.If you’re growing fast and have more complex processes you’d like to automate, IPA may be a better fit. In either case, these solutions can free up your staff to focus on more value-adding activities.Generative AI is another option for reducing manual workloads, and it has already become a go-to tool for many future-forward finance and accounting teams at companies of all sizes. For example, you can use it in audit preparations, such as for analyzing documents and automating reconciliations.Generative AI can also help you ramp up with quarterly reporting if you’re aiming to seek investment for your business or go public. The technology can help you automatically produce supporting documents and reports that align with relevant financial standards and regulations.
By leveraging advanced data models, such as those used in predictive analytics, your small or midsize business can unlock deeper insights into customer behavior, market trends and operational performance. These models allow companies to identify emerging patterns, forecast sales trends with greater accuracy, optimize inventory management, and more.Additionally, predictive analytics can help anticipate customer churn, enabling your business to proactively adjust marketing strategies to reach your target audiences more effectively.From a finance and accounting perspective, the use of predictive analytics can help you to:Step up risk assessment and managementYou can use predictive models to detect unusual transactions that might indicate fraudulent activity. These models can also predict cash flow problems before they become critical. Armed with these valuable insights, your staff can recommend preventive measures to improve the financial health of your company.Elevate financial forecasting and budgetingAI-driven predictive analytics can help your employees assemble more accurate forecasts regarding revenue, expenses and other financial metrics. Your business can, in turn, use these data-driven financial forecasts to make informed decisions about future investments, resource allocation and strategic planning.Strengthen customer retention and acquisition strategiesBy analyzing customer data and interactions, you can surface trends that contribute to customer satisfaction. You can predict customers’ needs, tailor your services appropriately and intervene proactively to address issues before they lead to attrition.More upside: Predictive models can also help you identify the characteristics of high-value customers and prospects for your small or midsize business.
Using AI tools like generative AI to analyze and generate insights from your financial data — both historical information and real-time data — can help your organization become more effective at enhancing customer interactions, helping you to drive more revenue and enhance customer retention. For example, you can use these insights to:Personalize product or service recommendations: AI analysis of your sales data and customer purchasing behavior can help you generate personalized recommendations. You can identify cross-selling and upselling opportunities and providing tailored offers and discounts.Optimize pricing strategies: You can use generative AI tools to analyze customer spending habits, transaction data and competitor pricing to help your business generate dynamic pricing models, segment customers and offer personalized deals.Improve cash flow management for customer offers: Analyzing cash flow data with AI can help you design financially viable customer interaction strategies that ensure promotions and other marketing strategies won’t negatively impact your company’s cash flow.You can also use financial data insights to enhance customer service and support. For example, AI can generate proactive customer service responses based on payment histories or financial interactions (e.g., reminders for overdue payments or offers for loyalty rewards based on spending).
No matter where and how you decide to use AI in your small or midsize business, keep this in mind: Technology provides the greatest competitive advantage when you use it to amplify the abilities of your people and help ensure everyone delivers their best work.To get the most from your AI and analytics investments, you will need to invest appropriately in your talent as well, helping them gain the skills they need to work with these tools effectively.Also, as your business expands its use of AI and other advanced technologies over time, know that you may need to change job descriptions for roles in finance and accounting and other critical functions — or even create entirely new roles.In a survey conducted for the 2025 Salary Guide From Robert Half, 61% of U.S. hiring managers at small businesses said they are already recruiting workers with different skills due to advancements in AI and automation.
