# In a World of AI and Automation, Don’t Leave Your Finance Team Behind

*Source: https://trginternational.com/blog/finance-team-development-ai-automation/*

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In the race to [modernise corporate finance](https://trginternational.com/blog/modern-record-to-report-cfo-business-financial-management/), business leaders are investing heavily in AI to eliminate manual data entry, speed up month-end closes, and free finance professionals to act as strategic business partners. Yet, a critical piece of the transformation puzzle is, sadly, often overlooked—the finance team itself.

## Key takeaways

-   AI and automation change what finance people spend their time on. They do not remove the need for skilled people; they raise the bar for them.
-   In EY’s 2026 DNA of the CFO survey, people and culture leadership ranked as the second weakest CFO capability, yet only fifth among the areas CFOs most wanted to develop.
-   A team left to work out its new role alone tends to fall back on manual checks, which quietly cancels out the value of the new system.
-   Good finance team development covers three layers: system skills, professional judgement and the human skills that hold a team together.
-   The best results come when technology and training are planned together, not one after the other.

> **Read more:** _[Why Finance Professionals Only Have 5 Years to Reinvent Themselves & How to Do It](https://trginternational.com/blog/finance-professionals-5-years-reinvent/)_

## Why finance team development matters now

[Finance team development](https://trginternational.com/blog/the-training-and-development-of-finance-professionals/) has rarely been the talk of the town as it is not viewed as urgent in the way a system upgrade or an audit deadline is. Yet the pressure on finance people has rarely been higher. [Automation](https://trginternational.com/blog/automation-intelligent-vs-hyperautomation/) is taking over data entry, matching and reconciliation, while boards expect the same team to deliver accurate analysis, forecasts and business partnering at a faster pace.

The question, then, is not whether the role of finance is changing. It is whether the team members are being prepared and properly equipped for the change.

The evidence suggests many are not. EY’s 2026 Global DNA of the CFO survey, which covered 1,610 CFOs, finance directors and heads of finance across 28 countries, found that people and culture leadership ranked as the second weakest capability among respondents, while it came only fifth among the areas they most wanted to develop \[[1](https://www.ey.com/content/dam/ey-unified-site/ey-com/en-gl/insights/finance/documents/ey-gl-dna-of-the-cfo-report-06-2026.pdf)\]. EY also describes finance transformation as a fundamentally human challenge, in which mindset, confidence, skills and ways of working must evolve alongside the technology.

In other words, the leaders responsible for finance transformation recognise the human side as a weakness, but do not yet treat it as a priority.

Meanwhile, the people doing the work are stretched. ACCA’s 2026 Global Talent Trends research found that 54 per cent of finance professionals said work pressures are harming their mental health, and 42 per cent said collaboration across generations is a challenge \[[2](https://www.accaglobal.com/content/dam/gb/policy-and-insights/reports/2026/gtt-2026.pdf)\]. A team under that kind of strain is unlikely to absorb a new way of working on its own, however good the new system is.

> **Read more:** [The Impact of Disengaged Managers: Why the Quiet Ones Cost the Most](https://trginternational.com/blog/disengaged-managers-signs-causes/)

## How are AI and automation changing finance roles?

[AI and automation](https://trginternational.com/blog/automation-intelligent-vs-hyperautomation/) are moving finance work away from producing numbers and towards reviewing, explaining and acting on them. The routine tasks shrink, while the tasks that need judgement, context and communication grow.

While technical excellence still matters immensely but it now sits alongside judgement, challenge, influence, collaboration and adaptability. In practice, the shift looks something like this:

 

Yesterday’s focus

Today’s expectation

Keying in invoices and journals

Reviewing exceptions the system cannot resolve

Building reports by hand

Explaining what the numbers mean and what to do next

Reconciling spreadsheets

Owning controls, rules and data quality in the system

Following the month-end checklist

Improving the process itself

Answering questions from the business

Challenging assumptions as a business partner

None of these new expectations arrives with the software licence. An AP clerk does not become a controls owner overnight, and a management accountant does not become a confident business partner simply because the reports now build themselves.

That is why companies need to invest in both the professional and personal development of finance teams, working with HR to define what success in finance looks like and which skills the team needs to get there. Today, knowing the company’s chart of accounts and close calendar might not be enough.

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## Finance teams end up stranded, here’s why

Most organisations are right to invest in [modern financial management solutions](https://trginternational.com/solutions/infor-sunsystems-cloud/) like automated invoice capture or bank reconciliation as they free people from repetitive work. Nobody should be missing re-keying the same data over and over.

The mistake is assuming freed-up time will automatically become higher-value work.

What usually happens instead is far less dramatic. Teams treat training as a few sessions before launch and a user manual, then expect everyone to get on with it. Within weeks, the questions start piling up.

-   Why did the system reject this entry?
-   Can I trust this automatic match?
-   Who is supposed to approve this now?

The result is a finance team doing the old job and the new job at the same time. The software investment looks underused, and the team looks resistant to change, when in fact it was simply never shown how its role had changed.

Worse, the change does not stop after go-live. Cloud solutions update regularly; [Infor SunSystems Cloud](https://trginternational.com/solutions/infor-sunsystems-cloud/), for example, receives a new release every six months. Each release brings new features, screens and controls. A one-off training session cannot keep pace with a system that keeps moving.

Resistance is not always the problem it appears to be. It is natural for end users to be sceptical of development that feels generic or disconnected from their actual work. And that scepticism is useful as it tells leaders that development has to be relevant enough to earn people’s attention.

**Ask yourself:** after your last system go-live, how many [spreadsheets did your team quietly keep “just in case”](https://wpengine.trginternational.com/blog/shadow-excel-ledger-education-finance-risk/)?

> **Read more:** [Don’t Panic! Here’s How You Get Started with Automation](https://trginternational.com/blog/automation-how-to-get-started/)

## What does good finance team development look like?

Good finance team development is planned alongside the technology, built around each person’s changing role, covering system skills, professional judgement, and the human skills a modern finance team depends on.

We recommend that CFOs and finance leaders consider the following steps:

-   **Budget for people when you budget for systems.** Include training in the project plan and business case, not as an afterthought once the implementation budget is spent.
-   **Train for the role, not only the screens.** Showing someone where to click is the easy part. The harder and more valuable part is explaining how the automation works, which exceptions need human judgement and who owns each control.
-   **Match training to the learner.** The purpose of using the new system for a new AP officer, an experienced controller, and a CFO reviewing dashboards differs drastically. Each needs their own role-based learning paths to avoid wasting anyone’s time.
-   **Keep learning continuous.** Short, on-demand refreshers after each software release work better than a single training week every few years.
-   **Develop the human skills too.** Design development paths _with_ the team rather than doing it _to_ them, starting by asking what actually needs to change and why it matters commercially.
-   **Define success person by person.** Leaders should agree with each team member what professional success looks like, then link it to what success means for the department.
-   **Measure whether anything changed.** [Fewer shadow spreadsheets](https://wpengine.trginternational.com/blog/shadow-excel-ledger-education-finance-risk/), fewer support tickets, faster closes, and more time spent on analysis all show development is working. Check the results again after three weeks, three months, and six months.

This ensures businesses treat the people who use the system as part of the implementation, not just its audience. Implementing high-value technology is only half the battle; equipping your finance team to evolve alongside AI and automation is what turns modern tools into lasting business performance.

## How TRG supports both the technology and the team

For TRG International, our view is simple: a financial management solution only delivers its full value when the people using it are confident with it. That is why we treat implementation and training as two halves of the same project.

On the technology side, TRG implements and supports modern financial management solutions such as [Infor SunSystems Cloud](https://trginternational.com/solutions/infor-sunsystems-cloud/), [Infor EPM](https://trginternational.com/solutions/infor-epm/), [Infor Q&A](https://trginternational.com/solutions/infor-qa/) and [Yooz](https://trginternational.com/solutions/yooz/) to take repetitive work off your team’s desk.

On the people side, [TRG End-User Training](https://trginternational.com/trg-end-user-training/) is designed to help teams use those solutions to their full potential. More specifically:

-   TRG consultants and specialists who work directly with customers develop the training, so it reflects how the systems are actually used.
-   Courses cover beginners through to advanced users, across finance, operations and management teams.
-   Learners build confidence through scenario-based exercises, multimedia walkthroughs and simulations.
-   Teams can learn online through [TRG Academy](https://academy.trginternational.com/), with on-demand courses, learning paths, and certifications; onsite with TRG consultants; or through a hybrid program.
-   TRG also designs tailored sessions to onboard large groups, catch up on interface changes, close knowledge gaps, or scale training across regions.

**Invested in better tools? Make sure your team can use them with confidence. Explore TRG End-User Training or request a personalised session for your finance team today!**

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## FAQs

**Will AI and automation replace finance teams?** Automation takes over repetitive tasks, such as data entry and matching, but it increases the need for judgement, control ownership and business partnering. The role of a finance professional changes; it doesn’t disappear.

**Why isn’t go-live training enough?** Go-live training shows people how to use the screens. It rarely prepares them for their changed responsibilities, and it cannot keep up with regular software releases.

**What should finance team development include?** System skills, professional judgement and human skills such as communication, challenge and collaboration, delivered at the right level for each role.

**References:**

1.  https://www.ey.com/content/dam/ey-unified-site/ey-com/en-gl/insights/finance/documents/ey-gl-dna-of-the-cfo-report-06-2026.pdf
2.  https://www.accaglobal.com/content/dam/gb/policy-and-insights/reports/2026/gtt-2026.pdf