AI in Finance: The Finance Function and Reporting
Finance is the function that signs the numbers. AI can speed the close and sharpen the forecast, but every figure it touches still has to be explained to the auditor, the audit committee and the market.
Format
Classroom · Virtual
Upcoming sessions
Pick a session to applyADMISSIONS OPENCity cohorts run once six delegates are nominated. Tell us your preferred month and we’ll confirm dates at least four weeks ahead — please hold travel bookings until then — or offer the nearest confirmed session, live virtual, or in-house. No payment until confirmation.
The programme
AI in Finance: The Finance Function and Reporting is a two-day programme for CFOs, financial controllers, FP&A, financial reporting and finance transformation teams — in banks and financial institutions first, and in other organisations — who need to judge where AI adds value in the finance function. It covers AI in the financial close and consolidation, AI for forecasting and FP&A, AI in financial reporting and disclosure, and the controls, audit trail and accountability every AI-touched number needs. Participants weigh use cases for finance teams, test outputs for accuracy and control, and critique case studies of what worked and what did not. Timing matters: IFRS 18, issued by the IASB in April 2024, replaces IAS 1 for annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027, reshaping the income statement and requiring disclosure of management-defined performance measures. Peer benchmarks run through both days. Delivered in English and French in Dubai, London and across the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe — and live online.
What you will do
Who attends
- Chief financial officers, finance directors and deputy CFOs in banks, financial institutions and other organisations
- Financial controllers, heads of the financial close and consolidation teams
- FP&A, budgeting and performance management teams
- Financial reporting, regulatory reporting and disclosure teams
- Finance transformation leads, internal auditors and audit committee advisers
- Participants should know their organisation’s close and reporting cycle; no programming or data science background is required
Programme agenda
Structured around one question — would you sign this number? — day one where AI adds value in close, forecasting and reporting, day two controls, IFRS 18 timing and choosing use cases
I.Where AI fits in the finance function
- A map of the finance function — record, close, plan, report, analyse — and where AI can enter each step
- Prediction, automation and generative AI: three tools with three different control questions
- What stays human: judgement, estimates, sign-off and accountability
II.AI in the financial close and consolidation
- Reconciliations and transaction matching: where machine learning reduces manual effort
- Anomaly detection in journals and suggested entries, and who reviews them
- Intercompany, eliminations and consolidation: the limits of automation
III.AI for forecasting and FP&A
- Driver-based planning compared with machine learning forecasts
- Scenarios and sensitivities: what AI speeds up and what it obscures
- Explaining a forecast and a miss to the executive committee and the board
IV.AI in financial reporting and disclosure
- Generative AI for variance commentary, management reports and narrative disclosure
- Consistency between the numbers, the narrative and prior periods
- Regulatory and management reporting in banks: where AI helps and where it must not decide
V.Controls, audit trail and assurance
- Internal control over financial reporting when AI is in the process
- Evidence, review and sign-off for AI-touched numbers
- What internal audit and the external auditor will ask, and how to be ready
VI.IFRS 18 and the timing question
- IFRS 18 in brief: replacing IAS 1 for annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027
- New income statement categories and subtotals, and management-defined performance measures
- Automate before or after the change? Weighing the sequence for close, reporting and commentary
VII.Choosing and governing finance AI use cases
- Value, risk, data readiness and the cost of control: one scale for every proposal
- Data and systems: what has to be true before AI can be trusted with finance data
- Ownership: where finance AI sits in the institution’s wider AI governance
VIII.Integrated case study
- A finance function weighs AI for reconciliations, the rolling forecast and results commentary in the year IFRS 18 arrives
- Testing each proposal for accuracy, control and audit trail
- Arguing a priority order before a mock audit committee
Frequently asked
What is AI in finance, in the sense of the finance function?
It is the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning inside the finance function — reconciliations and the financial close, consolidation, forecasting and FP&A, management and financial reporting, and commentary and disclosure text. Because finance signs the numbers, every AI use case also raises a control question: who reviewed the output, what evidence supports it, and whether the auditor can follow it.
Why does IFRS 18 matter for AI in financial reporting?
IFRS 18 Presentation and Disclosure in Financial Statements, issued by the IASB in April 2024, replaces IAS 1 and is effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027, with earlier application permitted. It changes how the income statement is presented and requires disclosure of management-defined performance measures. For organisations reporting under IFRS, automating reporting and commentary just before that change risks automating a format that is about to move — so the sequence deserves a deliberate decision.
How is it different from Future-Ready Finance and the IFRS 18 programme?
Future-Ready Finance: AI, Risk & Digital Strategy for Banks and Insurers addresses AI and digital strategy for the institution as a whole. The IFRS 18 Implementation Masterclass covers the standard in depth. This programme is about the finance function itself — the close, consolidation, FP&A, reporting controls and audit trail — and treats IFRS 18 only as a question of timing.
Is it only for banks, and what level is it?
Examples start with banks and financial institutions, but the finance-function questions apply to other organisations too. Participants should know their organisation’s close and reporting cycle. No programming or data science background is needed: the focus is on judgement — what to ask of an AI output before it is signed.
Can it run live virtual or in-house?
Yes. Public cohorts run in the classroom and live virtual. For one institution, the programme can run in-house as a custom programme, scoped on request, in English or French.
Is there a group rate, and do delegates receive a certificate?
Institutions sending several delegates, in one cohort or across the year, receive group terms; fees are provided on enquiry. Each participant receives a BIZENIUS Banking Academy certificate of completion. The programme is practice-led rather than exam-led and is not preparation for a third-party qualification.
Who teaches this
Practitioners, not presenters.
Led by practitioners who hold, or have held, the seats this programme prepares you for: group treasurers and heads of asset–liability management, chief risk officers, heads of credit and capital management, and former central-bank supervisors who examined the very frameworks they now teach. Between cohorts the same people advise banks on those frameworks, so what you learn is what is being defended in front of boards and regulators today.
What the bench brings
- IFRS 9 impairment and expected credit loss models
- Financial-instrument accounting and hedge accounting
- IFRS, US GAAP and public-sector standards
- Audit standards and financial control
- AI and machine learning applied to financial services
- Data science and big-data practice
Where they have practised
Current and former practitioners — people who hold the seat today alongside those who have held it.
Sectors: Banking & financial services · Technology & fintech · Professional services · Insurance
Regions: Africa · the Middle East · Europe · Asia · the Americas
How they teach
- Live case studies from real institutions
- Worked exercises on realistic bank data
- Regulator-style challenge sessions
- Group problem-solving on realistic institutional cases
- Knowledge checks and a personal action plan
Cohorts are kept small so every exercise is worked on the participants’ own situations — in person or live virtual.
The faculty profile for your cohort is sent with the full agenda and the next dates when you enquire.Request brochure →
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In their words
Knowledge transfer, emphasised throughout
“We worked with BIZENIUS for our Fresh Graduates Programme — they are simply amazing. Knowledge transfer and practical learning were emphasised throughout.”
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The Capability Arc™
Fix it · Advisory
AI Advisory
When the institution wants the work done with it — a sober read of where AI would move finance cost, speed or quality, in what order, with the controls the auditor will look for.
Automate it · Smart IT
Reporting Automation & Dashboards
When the close pack, management reports and disclosures need to come out of the system with a traceable audit trail, not out of re-keyed workbooks.
Learning is one point on the Capability Arc. Many institutions pair this programme with the advisory engagement — and automate what the framework demands.
Teams from these institutions train with BIZENIUS
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