Companies, especially private companies, are moving past the earliest phase of AI adoption and entering a new stage — in which using AI in their businesses continues to come with risks and challenges but also comes with high potential to drive impactful advantages.
Companies’ CFOs are increasingly viewing AI as not just a cost cutting tool, but a strategic advantage.
“They are focusing on driving growth and efficiency to help their companies move faster, benefiting both top line revenue and operational performance,” says Tarek Ebeid, KPMG Private Leader and Partner in Charge – Audit Practice at KPMG US.
The stakes for using AI effectively are high, but by harnessing AI in the reporting function, company leaders are already gaining a myriad of benefits — from real-time insights into risks to the ability to predict trends and impacts.
As CFOs and other company leaders continue advancing AI initiatives, however, the concerns they consider challenges and barriers are shifting.
Cybersecurity is front and center
Within just one year, several key concerns U.S. executives have perceived as barriers to AI adoption have eased significantly.
In 2024, 31% of U.S. financial reporting leaders indicated in a KPMG study that ethical concerns, such as bias or misinformation, are a barrier to AI adoption — down from 48% in 2023. Just over a third (35%) of U.S. financial reporting leaders reported that risks from using algorithms without human oversight are a barrier — down from over half (51%) in 2023. And only 41% reported that keeping up with regulatory changes is a barrier, compared to nearly half (49%) who reported the same in 2023.
Several other barriers increased in financial reporting leaders’ considerations, however — including data security and privacy concerns (56% in 2024 compared to 32% in 2023), limited AI skills and talent (46% in 2024 compared to 40% in 2023), and gathering relevant and consistent data (44% in 2024 compared to 30% in 2023).
Data security and privacy concerns, in fact, were the top reported barriers to financial reporting leaders’ adoption of AI in 2024.
“Cybersecurity and data privacy are front and center for all boards, CFOs, and CEOs, because companies do not want to be in any headlines due to a breach,” says Ebeid. “And when a big cyber incident related to AI ultimately happens, depending on the severity of it, people are going to step back and ask a lot of questions. But as time goes on, companies are going to continue to invest in technology, as well as in AI governance, security, and risk management. While they won’t eliminate all security incidents, they will be able to get their risk management controls to a place where they protect themselves to the fullest extent possible.”
Leaders are split on AI’s core benefit
The ways in which companies are applying AI in their businesses vary, but many have expanded their focus areas from finance use cases to ones in other functions.
“A lot of people got started with AI by using it to complete routine tasks and take time out of their processes, and a lot of that work began in the finance function,” says Francois Chadwick, KPMG Private Enterprise Global and National Lead Partner – Emerging Giants at KPMG US. “Now, we're starting to see AI in a lot of use cases within back-office functions such as the legal and HR groups within companies, as well. We're also starting to see it more and more in the sales and marketing functions — and those kinds of forward-facing areas are where I expect to see a lot more activity.”
Even as AI adoption extends across functions, however, company leaders are divided on its core benefits.
Recent KPMG research shows that 47% of executives at private companies and recent IPOs report that AI is leveling the playing field by enabling less innovative companies to catch up quickly and better compete with more innovative companies, and 53% of them report that AI is more of a game changer for innovators and disruptors because they will have a significant competitive advantage as early adopters.
End-to-end AI strategies are needed
These same company leaders recognize AI’s transformative potential but expect it to unfold gradually.
KPMG’s research shows that, among executives at private companies and recent IPOs, AI is considered an extremely important technology enabling growth. These same executives see more opportunities and greater relevance for AI in the medium-to-long term (the coming 18 months to three years) than in the short term (the next 18 months).
Recognizing AI’s importance doesn’t always mean having end-to-end plans for putting it to use over that 18- to 36-month window, however.
“Many companies aren’t actually taking the time to understand the power AI can bring and think through their whole end-to-end corporate strategy for it,” says Chadwick. “They need to do that and also need to be thinking about it through the lens of competitor analysis — what their competitors could be doing with AI that could be very disruptive to them or could help their competitors get ahead of them through the use of AI in the back office or other business areas.”
Conclusion
In 2025, companies are foraying beyond their initial exploration phases with AI. They are investing in using AI to not just gain efficiency but create more value for their organizations by predicting trends and identifying and mitigating emerging risks from this rapid transformation. And, by building up their workforces and security and governance infrastructures to support their investments, they are more able to deliver transformative business impact for the companies that use it to innovate.
For more information and research into U.S. business leaders’ perspectives on growth, AI, and reporting, read KPMG’s ‘Disruption Decoded’ report.
