Data study ·
Finance departments want to rationalise their existing tools
Original title, in French: “Les directions financières veulent rationaliser leurs outils existants”
- Publication
- DAF Magazine (France)
- Author
- Christina DIEGO
- Published on
- 2 October 2026 · read in the page structured data · updated on 2 October 2026
Summary
Spendesk's "CFO Tools Barometer 2026", conducted by CFO Connect among 215 finance leaders in France, the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States, shows that finance departments are looking to rationalise their tools rather than add more. Artificial intelligence is progressing rapidly: 67% of respondents use at least one AI tool, up from 56% in 2025 and 31% in 2024, with Anthropic's Claude ranking first in usage ahead of Copilot, ChatGPT and Gemini. AI is used mainly for financial analysis, reporting, modelling and forecasting. According to Pauline Babel, CFO of Spendesk, AI is being built into workflows to free up time for high-value decisions. The study also notes very uneven levels of maturity across functions (FP&A, treasury, procurement, invoicing).
Summary based on the full text of the article.
Read the article on DAF Magazine →Figures cited
-
67 %
share of finance departments using at least one AI tool in 2026
215 finance leaders, France, United Kingdom, Germany, United States, 2026
« 67 % des directions financières interrogées utilisent désormais au moins un outil d’IA. »
Source: Baromètre des outils CFO 2026, Spendesk / CFO Connect
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56 %
share of finance departments using at least one AI tool in 2025
same barometer, 2025 edition
« Elles étaient 56 % en 2025 et 31 % en 2024. »
Source: Baromètre des outils CFO 2026, Spendesk / CFO Connect
-
31 %
share of finance departments using at least one AI tool in 2024
same barometer, 2024 edition
« Elles étaient 56 % en 2025 et 31 % en 2024. »
Source: Baromètre des outils CFO 2026, Spendesk / CFO Connect
-
41 %
share of AI users reporting that they use Anthropic's Claude
respondents using AI, 2026 barometer
« Le LLM d’Anthropic, Claude arrive en tête, avec 41 % des répondants qui déclarent l’utiliser. »
Source: Baromètre des outils CFO 2026, Spendesk / CFO Connect
-
20 %
share of AI use cases dedicated to financial analysis
respondents using AI, 2026 barometer
« L’analyse financière représente 20 % des cas d’usage. »
Source: Baromètre des outils CFO 2026, Spendesk / CFO Connect
Classification
- Country
- France, United Kingdom, Germany, United States
- Company size
- All sizes
- Industries
- Banking, insurance, asset management, finance departments
- Companies
- Spendesk (study author), CFO Connect (study author), Microsoft (supplier), OpenAI (supplier), Anthropic (supplier), Google (supplier)
- Keywords
- finance department, artificial intelligence, finance tools, automation, cfo barometer, IT rationalisation
Entry written by Marsanne Studio from the cited article, with the help of an AI model (claude-sonnet-5). The rights to the article and its illustrations belong to DAF Magazine and its author. Entry translated from French by Claude Sonnet 5.5.