The creature is already in the building
Controllers who shape AI well will define the next era of finance leadership
In 1818, Mary Shelley imagined a man who did what every era is tempted to do. Victor Frankenstein built something astonishing. Something powerful. Something he could not fully control once it began to move.
Frankenstein did not fail because he lacked genius. He failed because the moment his creation opened its eyes, he flinched. He had brilliance enough to build it, but not the resolve to guide what came next.
No plan.
No stewardship.
No accountability.
Lead intentionally
Two centuries later, that story feels uncomfortably familiar.
AI is already moving into finance faster than most leaders expected:
It is entering reporting, reconciliations, anomaly detection, forecasting, and decision support at speed.
Deloitte research shows 74% of leaders expect to deploy agentic AI within two years, yet only 21% have mature governance in place to manage it. Adoption is accelerating. The safeguards are still catching up.
Controllers are not bystanders in this story:
They are the people built for this moment.
Finance has always been where discipline meets judgment, where trust is earned, and where systems that matter are made reliable. Those are exactly the capabilities this next chapter demands.
The question is not whether AI will reshape controllership.
It will.
The question is whether finance will lead that change with intention or keep watching it unfold from a distance.
That starts with seven intentional priorities
- Define the outcome. Then lead the agenda.
Victor Frankenstein never decided what success looked like. Finance leaders cannot afford that same oversight. When finance sets the destination, AI becomes a tool for execution, not a distraction. - Build the governance framework. Set the standard.
Governance is not a brake on innovation. It is what makes innovation dependable. Clear ownership, decision rights, and accountability from the start. - Validate continuously.
The creature changes as it learns. So does the model. Validation is an ongoing discipline, grounded in accuracy, consistency, explainability, and control effectiveness. - Use the data you have. Improve what matters most.
Finance has never waited for perfect information. Focus on the data that most directly affects reporting, forecasting, and reconciliation, and build from there. - Design oversight that adds real value.
What Frankenstein lacked was not intelligence. It was presence. Human oversight should strengthen decisions, not simply sit beside them. That is what makes AI useful. - Measure value and risk together.
Victor only saw what he wanted to create, not what he was building. Don't just measure what AI is saving you. Measure where it's falling short too. - Build the team that leads this.
The goal is not to build the creature faster. It is to build the people who can guide it. Upskilling is not support for the transformation. It is part of the transformation.
A mandate for stewardship
Controllership has always been defined by stewardship: protecting integrity, applying judgment, creating trust.
AI doesn't change that role. It gives finance leaders a broader canvas on which to exercise it.
The leaders who stand out won't be the ones who adopt AI fastest. They'll be the ones who shape it best.
Victor Frankenstein lost control of what he created. Then he ran away.
Finance leaders don't have that option.
The beast can be tamed. And better yet, it can be put to work.
Unlike Victor, finance leaders have a Q4 close on the calendar, a board that wants answers yesterday, and a 10-K that isn't going to file itself.
