See how AI supercharges your role in finance, from strategic forecasting to real-time consolidation. Then, discover how Nominal connects it all.
What You’ll Learn
By the end of this module, you’ll be able to:
- Pinpoint how AI drives better decisions in your specific finance role
- Understand how Nominal enhances accuracy, speed, and visibility
- Identify inefficiencies and opportunities across the finance tech stack
- Use real examples to map out how AI fits into your close, control, and reporting cycles
- Articulate the shift from manual tasks to strategic contribution
💡 Quick Tip
AI in finance isn’t one size fits all. The real power lies in how it adapts to your role and scales with your team.
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1. For CFOs – Leading with Intelligence
The CFO role is rapidly evolving. Beyond managing financial stewardship, today’s finance leaders are expected to guide business strategy, drive operational alignment, and deliver insights that influence company-wide decisions. But doing so effectively requires more than traditional reports and backward-looking dashboards.
Watch the shift: See how AI is transforming the CFO’s role from oversight to strategic leadership
Legacy forecasting processes are often too slow and disconnected to support real-time decision making. AI changes this by enabling rolling forecasts, dynamic scenario modeling, and anomaly detection. Instead of waiting for month-end close to uncover problems, CFOs can now detect shifts in performance as they happen across business units, geographies, or entities.
Generative AI expands these capabilities further by allowing finance teams to query large data sets using natural language. Rather than waiting for analysts or building complex models, CFOs can ask targeted questions, such as what is driving margin erosion, and receive structured, contextual responses in seconds. This accelerates the path from question to decision.
As AI becomes more embedded in finance, the CFO’s value shifts from explaining what happened to shaping what comes next. Strategy, speed, and insight are no longer separate goals. They are part of the same real-time operating model, and AI is making that model possible.
Want to dive deeper? Explore the blog posts:
2. For Controllers – Control and Confidence
The controller’s job has always centered on accuracy, oversight, and compliance. But in modern finance environments, especially across multi-entity organizations, that role is under pressure. With close cycles tightening and reporting demands increasing, many teams are forced to spend more time chasing numbers than reviewing them.
See how AI is changing the controller’s role:
Controllers today often work across fragmented systems. Reconciliations, intercompany eliminations, and review steps frequently happen outside the ERP, scattered across spreadsheets, shared folders, or email threads. This not only slows down the close but increases the risk of errors and missed exceptions. As complexity grows, so does exposure.
AI brings a new level of structure and proactivity to controlling. Intelligent systems can automatically detect anomalies, suggest matching entries, and flag deviations from expected patterns. Instead of relying on static checklists, controllers can build workflows that evolve in real time, highlighting exceptions, surfacing justifications, and tracking resolution across teams.
With the right AI tools, controllers can shift from reactive review to continuous oversight. That means fewer last-minute adjustments, cleaner audits, and more time spent analyzing risk instead of processing data. Control becomes something you build into the system, not something you scramble to reestablish after close.
Explore further:
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3. For Accountants – From Spreadsheets to Strategy
Accounting teams are the backbone of financial operations, yet many still spend most of their time trapped in spreadsheets. Reconciliations, eliminations, and adjustments often happen manually, outside the ERP, leading to long close cycles and limited time for value-added analysis. As reporting pressure increases, this reactive model is no longer sustainable.
Watch the shift: See how AI agents are helping accountants automate tasks, reduce errors, and reclaim time for analysis
Even with automation tools like RPA or batch scripts, most accounting workflows remain rigid and error-prone. These solutions require constant oversight, lack context awareness, and struggle to adapt to exceptions. AI agents offer a new approach. They are context-aware, task-oriented systems that can match entries, flag anomalies, and recommend adjustments, all without predefined rules.
By handling repetitive processes like reconciliations and intercompany eliminations, AI agents give accountants time back to focus on review and analysis. They can explain fluctuations, surface unusual activity, and prepare supporting documentation automatically. Instead of managing spreadsheets, accountants can manage outcomes.
This shift does not replace accounting expertise. It elevates it. With AI agents handling the mechanical work, accountants can contribute more strategically to variance analysis, forecasting, and continuous improvement. The result is faster close cycles, fewer errors, and a stronger partnership between finance and the rest of the business.
Dig deeper:
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4. Where It All Connects: The Future of Financial Operations
Throughout this module, you’ve seen how AI can support the daily work of CFOs, controllers, and accountants. But the most powerful transformation happens when those roles and workflows are no longer siloed. Today’s finance teams face a common challenge: growing complexity across entities, systems, and reporting timelines. The solution is not just more automation. It is intelligent coordination.
This is what Nominal was built to enable.
Rather than replacing your ERP or introducing yet another tool, it acts as a smart layer that connects your existing systems. It understands financial context, monitors activity, and guides your team through tasks like reconciliations, eliminations, and variance reviews. All of this happens without needing to switch between spreadsheets, scripts, and manual workarounds.
AI agents embedded in the platform work across roles. Controllers receive alerts when anomalies are detected during close. CFOs can access real-time explanations of margin changes across entities. Accountants are guided through entry reviews without having to manually search for justifications. Each person sees what matters to their function, but all are working within one connected environment.
This is the foundation of intelligent finance. A system that is always on, always learning, and always aligned with your business logic. It simplifies multi-entity operations, enforces control without slowing teams down, and builds trust through transparency and traceability. With enterprise readiness, SOC 1 compliance, and fast implementation, it is designed to meet the pace of modern finance.
See it in action: Watch real case studies and explore how leading finance teams are using intelligent workflows in the field:
Want to learn more?
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Now, it’s time to wrap it all together. In the next and final module, you’ll review key takeaways, complete a short recap activity, and earn your official AI Mastery Badge.
Next up: Module 4 – Wrap-Up: Earn Your AI Mastery Badge. Complete your learning journey and get certified!
See Nominal in action: book a demo and discover how AI unifies your finance team’s workflows and accelerates decision-making.
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