Finance teams must take the lead to ‘own the future of accounting with AI’

Accountants and finance teams must lead the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) or risk being saddled with systems that could create more problems than they solve.

That was one of the key takeaways from the keynote speech at TakeControl London 2026, FloQast’s inaugural annual user conference in the UK.

Addressing a roomful of finance professionals, Chris Sluty, FloQast’s co-founder and Chief Product Officer, explained how too many companies are approaching AI adoption from the wrong direction.

“The mistake we see a lot of companies make is walking in and asking, ‘What’s our AI strategy?’ That’s the wrong question. The right question is ‘What’s our automation strategy, and where does AI actually fit into it?’ 

“Sometimes the answer is code. Sometimes it’s an agent. Knowing the difference, and knowing which workflow you’re looking at, is most of the job,” he said. 

AI in accounting poses a different set of rules

Chris Sluty compared the current uncertainty surrounding AI adoption with the introduction of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) in the United States in 2002, when companies and auditors spent years working out how to demonstrate compliance with new financial reporting controls.

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There was a messy back-and-forth between companies and their audit firms about how much documentation was actually enough. It settled down eventually, but it took time, and it took some pain to get there. We're in that exact same figuring-it-out phase again right now, except this time it's generative AI instead of internal controls over financial reporting, and I'd argue it's a messier problem than SOX ever was. AI is a fundamentally different kind of tool, one that doesn't always give you the same answer twice, being applied to a function where consistency is the entire point. That's a harder version of the same problem, and it's the reason we've spent this past year the way we have.

-Chris Sluty, Co-founder & Chief Product Officer, FloQast

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He argued that while AI offers a major opportunity to automate accounting workflows, adoption must be governed by three principles: 

• Accuracy: Speed is worthless if the answer is wrong. Boards and auditors won't accept AI as an excuse for errors, and finance teams remain accountable for the results.‍
• Budget: Accounting teams need to apply the same financial discipline to AI as to any other investment. That means tracking expenditure, assessing returns and ensuring every pound spent delivers measurable value.‍
• Compliance: AI systems must meet the standards expected of financial reporting processes and withstand scrutiny from audit committees.

The reason is simple, he said. Unlike other business functions, accounting requires AI outputs to be explainable, supported by evidence and defensible under audit.

Adopting the right approach

Chris also talked about the five-level AI maturity model, which featured in FloQast’s recent The State of Accounting AI 2026 report. 

Most finance teams are still exploring automation, he said, but for finance leaders looking to move forward, he recommends starting small and warns against choosing complex or high-risk processes for an initial AI project. 

Don't pick your hardest, scariest process as your first AI project. Start low-risk, get a quick, visible win, let your team and your board see it work.

-Chris Sluty, Co-founder & Chief Product Officer, FloQast

He also used his presentation to outline six product developments, spanning new AI governance and audit tools. These include enhancements to existing automation capabilities and broader integration across FloQast's platform:

• COSO AI Module (new): Companies can use this new module to keep a record of their AI agents, the internal controls each one supports, and who is responsible for them. It also helps them identify AI system changes that could affect an audit.‍
• Transform (enhanced): The latest version allows accountants to upload a completed reconciliation and the instructions used to prepare it. Transform then uses those documents to build an AI agent that can do the same work, while ensuring review and approval of any subsequent changes to the process.‍
• AI Assistant (new): Built into the FloQast platform, the assistant checks journal entries for potential errors and unusual transactions by drawing on historical accounting data. It gives each entry a risk score, explains any problems it finds and suggests how to address them.‍
• Broader AI Connectivity (expanded): This extends Transform to work with other parts of its software, including Compliance. This means records of work completed by AI agents can be passed directly to the compliance system, rather than an accountant having to enter them again.‍
• Operational Audits (new): Uses AI to support the planning and reporting of operational audits beyond financial controls. Helps internal audit teams identify weaknesses and provide actionable recommendations.‍
• Enterprise Data Platform (enhanced): Introduces native enterprise integrations, beginning with Workday and SAP. Helps organisations maintain consistent data visibility, controls and audit evidence across multiple financial systems.

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Summing up these latest developments, he said: “Six products. One throughline. Accuracy, auditability, and a practical application built by accountants, for accountants, built to help you lead, not just react.”

Wrapping up his keynote, Chris made it clear that accountants, not software vendors, should hold the future of accounting with AI.

Ensuring accountants play a pivotal role

While acknowledging pressure from boards to accelerate adoption, he argued that finance leaders were best placed to judge which processes could be safely automated and where human oversight remained essential. He also predicted that AI would change the profession rather than diminish it, creating new roles that combine accounting expertise with the ability to build and manage automation.

Everything we do comes back to one goal: to ensure accountants own the future of accounting with AI, not have it happen to them. We do that two ways. We build products that are quick to deploy and easy for your team to use – the six things I just walked you through. And we pair that with real education, through our certification program, FloQademy, so your team isn't just handed a tool [but that] they actually understand how to use it well. Everything my team built this year exists to make sure your team's judgment has the evidence, the controls, and the tools behind it to be trusted at scale, by your team, by your auditors, and by your board.

-Chris Sluty, Co-founder & Chief Product Officer, FloQast