Finance work is changing faster than finance teams can be rebuilt

For many CFOs, hiring more people is not an option, so they turn their focus to how their finance function can access the right capability at the speed the business requires. Finance functions face expanding regulatory requirements, complex ERP and transformation programs, pressured reporting cycles, and persistent cost constraints. At the same time, specialist expertise across tax, accounting, controlling, regulatory reporting, treasury, process optimization, and finance technology remains difficult to recruit and retain.

Stretching internal teams create fatigue and increases execution risk, while permanent hiring is often too slow to meet immediate needs. Many finance functions are also organized around workforce models designed for stable, repeatable work, even as the work becomes faster, more project-based, more data-driven, and increasingly shaped by AI.

CFOs therefore need a workforce model that combines permanent teams, flexible specialists, managed delivery capacity, and AI-enabled ways of working around the outcomes Finance must deliver.

Leading organizations have moved away from asking whether they have enough people. While sufficient resources still matter, the question has turned to whether the right capabilities are present, in the right structure, and at the right time.

This distinction matters because Finance work is increasingly variable: a team may need transaction accounting expertise for a defined period, ERP specialists during an implementation, and additional capacity at reporting peaks. Permanent recruitment is often too slow for these time-bound requirements.

This creates a gap between approved priorities and the capacity to deliver them. Transformation, automation and compliance initiatives can stall when process knowledge or specialist capability is stretched across competing demands.
 

AI will not remove the workforce challenge, but it will change it

AI can accelerate analysis, automate routine tasks, support reconciliations, identify anomalies and improve how Finance teams use data. It changes the workforce challenge rather than removing it. Effective adoption depends on clear processes, reliable data, appropriate controls, human judgement, and people who understand both finance and technology.

As repetitive work decreases, demand is likely to grow for expertise in process redesign, data governance, controls, ERP integration, risk management, and change adoption. Finance functions will also need people who can determine which activities should be automated, remain human-led, or use a hybrid delivery model.
 

Workforce solutions as part of the Finance operating model

Workforce solutions provide finance functions with flexible access to specialist expertise and delivery capacity. Traditionally used to address vacancies, workload peaks, or individual projects, they are increasingly becoming part of the broader Finance operating model.

They sit between permanent hiring and end-to-end outsourcing, giving CFOs an adaptive way to access capability when an internal team cannot meet a time-bound or specialist need.

Finance leaders can assemble targeted expertise around a reporting deadline, a carve-out, a transformation milestone, a remediation program, ERP deployment, or a process improvement initiative. The aim is to accelerate delivery and strengthen the organization, rather than simply add capacity.

The value extends beyond placing people quickly. An effective model matches expertise to the work, integrates specialists into the organization’s operating rhythm, and provides accountability for quality, continuity, and knowledge transfer. Used in this way, workforce solutions help CFOs respond to volatility while retaining control, judgment, and business ownership within the finance function.
 

What CFOs should rethink now

CFOs can begin by segmenting finance work according to the judgment, expertise, capacity, and technology it requires.

A practical starting point considers four categories:

This allows CFOs to select the most appropriate workforce and delivery model for each type of work.
 

A sharper point of view for finance leaders

The objective is orchestration: matching each type of finance work with the right combination of internal ownership, specialist expertise, scalable delivery, and technology, supported by clear governance and accountability.

This positions workforce solutions as part of the Finance operating model, helping CFOs increase resilience, accelerate priority initiatives and access scarce expertise as needs change.