Pros and Cons: Is AI Technology a Game Changer for Finance Teams?

AI technology has become a significant player in changing many industries including how finance team's work. With its ability to automate tasks and analyze vast amounts of data, AI has indeed revolutionized the way finance teams operate. 

Initially introduced by John McCarthy in 1955, AI has seen significant improvements over the years, especially in its practical applications to everyday life.  

However, like every emerging technology, the use of AI also comes with its own set of pros and cons. According to a recent report by Goldman Sachs, up to 300 million full-time jobs could be possibly replaced and affected by applications powered by AI technologies. This means that while AI has game-changing benefits, there are also challenges that need to be addressed and considered.   

A Game-Changer or Threat? The Pros and Cons of AI in Finance Industry.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a rapidly advancing technology with both positive and negative implications. Here are the main pros and cons: 

Positive effects of AI  

AI technology is created and developed to augment human creativity and efforts. Here are some of the advantages of AI in finance. 

1. Increased Focus on Strategic and Value-Added Tasks

AI technology can automate repetitive and time-consuming accounting tasks, such as data entry, report generation and reconciliation. By freeing up your finance professionals from these mundane activities, they can focus on more strategic and value-added tasks, leading to increased efficiency and productivity within the team.  

2. Detecting Potential Fraud Easily

AI algorithms can detect anomalies and suspicious patterns in financial transactions, helping your finance teams identify potential fraud or risk-related issues before they escalate.   

A study conducted by Harvard Business Review, revealed that the traditional transaction monitoring systems used by banks are inefficient. This monitoring system, which relies solely on pre-defined binary rules and manual checks, has shown a disappointingly low success rate, with a mere 2% of flagged financial transactions turning out to be malicious.  

The good news is that the implementation of machine-learning solutions has brought significant improvements. These solutions have enhanced the development of predictive rules, enabling automatic detection of anomalies within data sets.  

These sophisticated algorithms also effectively filter out cases that were incorrectly flagged, substantially decreasing the occurrence of false alerts that may have been missed by traditional transactions, offering a higher level of detection, accuracy and safeguarding of your financial assets.  

3. Continuous Availability

One of the key advantages of AI technology for organizations is its ability to operate 24/7. Unlike humans, AI-powered systems do not require breaks or sleep. They can tirelessly work around the clock, ensuring that your financial processes are constantly monitored and optimized. This uninterrupted availability leads to increased efficiency, faster decision-making and reduced response times to emerging financial challenges.  

To illustrate the effectiveness of AI technology's continuous availability, consider the example of a multinational corporation managing a complex portfolio of investments. By utilizing AI algorithms, they can automate the analysis of market data, identify trends and predict potential risks or opportunities. This continuous monitoring also enables timely adjustments to investment strategies, ensuring maximum returns while minimizing risks. 

RELATED: AI in Accounting and Finance: Advantages and Negative Impacts 

4. Provide Comprehensive Data

Another significant benefit of AI technology is its unparalleled capability to process and analyze vast amounts of financial data with speed and accuracy.  

Finance teams often deal with enormous data sets that can be time-consuming and prone to human errors when analyzed manually. With AI algorithms, complex calculations, risk assessment and financial forecasting can be performed effortlessly, providing you with invaluable insights and comprehensive reports.  

For instance, AI-powered tools can analyze historical financial data, market trends and consumer behavior patterns to predict sales figures accurately. This information also empowers your finance teams to make informed decisions regarding budgeting, resource allocation and revenue projections. By leveraging AI's data analysis capabilities, your finance teams can optimize financial strategies, identify cost-saving opportunities and ensure the organization's long-term financial sustainability.  

Read Next: Analytics: How Data-Driven Decisions Can Help Your Bottom-line  

Negative Effects of AI 

AI, despite its benefits, also has its fair share of disadvantages. Here are a few disadvantages of AI in finance.  

1. Lack of Data Privacy and Security Risks

One of the significant negative effects of AI technology for your finance teams is the potential data privacy and security risks it brings.    

AI systems handle sensitive financial information of data, which is why there is a major concern that these systems might be vulnerable to cyber-attacks or data breaches. For example, if hackers gain access to your organization’s AI databases, they can modify everything, including each user's or client's financial information, which compromises the integrity of financial records and result in financial losses. 

2. Growing Dependency on Technology

Another drawback of AI technology for finance teams is the increased dependency on technology. While AI can automate many financial processes and enhance efficiency, over-reliance on AI systems can create challenges when these systems encounter technical issues or malfunctions.   

Finance teams may find themselves unprepared to handle financial tasks manually or face delays in decision-making processes until the issues are resolved.  

3. Ethical and Historical Concerns

The implementation of AI technology in financial teams poses ethical considerations. AI algorithms are built on training data, and if that data is biased, the results can be discriminatory.  

For instance, if an AI system is trained to determine loan eligibility based on historical data, this might have a major impact on the financial industry, since it only means that the organization's algorithms are biased and data can lead to unfair lending and discrimination against specific groups.  

THE BOTTOM LINE  

While artificial intelligence offers tons of benefits for finance teams, such as increased efficiency and improved decision-making, there are also significant challenges that need to be addressed and considered. These are data privacy and security risks, dependency on technology and ethical considerations are some of the key challenges that finance teams must navigate when adopting AI technology.   

By implementing robust security measures, maintaining a balance between human expertise and AI technology and regularly evaluating and monitoring AI algorithms, finance teams can mitigate these risks and harness the full potential of AI in a responsible and ethical manner.  

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D&V Philippines can help! We are a trusted finance and accounting outsourcing company with extensive experience and top-notch services. We can help you prepare for your accounting automation journey. Schedule a free consultation with us today to learn more about how we can help you integrate AI into your business.  

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This post was first published 23 August 2023 and edited on 13 February 2024. Edited by: Angelica Garcia