What CFOs Are Prioritizing in 2026: AI, Digital Finance, and AI Agents

Corporate finance leaders are entering 2026 with technology transformation at the center of the agenda—not as a side experiment, but as the main lever for performance and talent strategy. This note summarizes publicly reported findings from Deloitte’s Q4 2025 CFO Signals release, which polled 200 finance chiefs in North America at companies with at least US$1 billion in annual revenue (survey fieldwork Nov. 14–Dec. 7, 2025). It complements our broader take on the future of finance and AI with numbers straight from the source.

Digital Transformation and Automation First

According to Deloitte’s press summary of the survey, half (50%) of North American CFOs cite digital transformation of the finance function as their top priority for 2026. In parallel, 49% identify automating processes to free employees for higher-value work as their leading finance talent priority—a reminder that AI and automation are inseparable from workforce planning.

AI Importance and AI Agents in Finance

The same release reports that 87% of CFOs expect AI to be extremely or very important to finance department operations in 2026, with only 2% saying it will not be important. On AI agents specifically, more than half (54%) of CFOs say integrating AI agents in finance will be a transformation priority—a sharp signal that “agentic” workflows are moving from niche pilots to board-level conversation.

Confidence, Risk Appetite, and Context

Deloitte also notes a CFO Confidence Score of 6.6 in Q4 2025—described as the highest since late 2021—and that 59% of respondents say now is a good time to take greater risk, up from 36% in the prior quarter. M&A interest remains elevated, with 63% reporting greater interest in deals compared with 2024.

How to Use These Signals

If you lead FP&A, accounting, or IT for finance, the takeaway is practical: budgets and roadmaps are aligning around digital finance, automation, and agent integration—not disconnected AI demos. Ground business cases in measurable outcomes (cycle time, quality of close, decision speed) and pair technology with talent and change investments; the survey explicitly ties automation to higher-value work, not only cost cutting.

For the full methodology and charts, see Deloitte’s CFO Signals materials on deloitte.com and the related press release summarizing Q4 2025 expectations for 2026.