Trintech CFO Omar Choucair said the use of artificial intelligence has quickly become no longer an option, but an expectation for both CFOs and finance departments.
While this means finance leaders need to act as quickly as possible to effectively incorporate AI into the business, it’s also important to keep in mind the “immovable points” or key responsibilities within the CFO room, Choucair said.
“I keep saying, CFOs can never be ‘mostly right,’” Choucair said in an interview with CFO Dive. “I tell everyone that the CFO can never be almost right, and that we are responsible for mission-critical processes where tolerance is zero or close to zero.”
Manage secure and auditable AI
Trintech, a provider of AI-enabled software that helps finance teams automate the close process, is focused on embedding AI both in its products and within its teams. For both the CFO and Dallas, Texas-based Trintech, the need to ensure financial information is 100% accurate and accurate is paramount, Choucair said.
AI remains the “No. 1 and No. 2 topic” in CFO meetings and discussions among finance executives, Choucair said. Finance executives have the dual responsibility of ensuring that a company’s financial information is accurate, secure, and compliant, while also being responsible for effectively leveraging the company’s resources to drive growth.
When it comes to AI, “the budget needs to be spent, but I think the real question is whether it can be trusted. Is it part of the control when the auditors come in?” he said. “Whatever functions and processes are running, are they really pure? And can they be audited?”
According to his LinkedIn profile, Mr. Choucair has been the CFO of a financial closing software provider since 2019. Prior to joining Trintech, he was CFO of B2B marketing platform Multiview, a portfolio company of Warburg Pincus, and began his career at Big Four firm KPMG.
According to an April 9 press release, Trintech is embedding AI across its product suite, introducing Beacon, an AI assistant, and adding agent AI to its closing process. According to the release, the technology can offer benefits such as AI-powered transaction matching, preparation of journal entries, and reconciliation narratives and documentation.
For example, he said, the tool is intended to help solve the challenge of small portions of data and information that automation has previously been unable to match, using transaction matching and exception reporting.
“They get kicked out, so you need someone to track them down. What we’re doing is creating an agent that actually solves those problems and then puts the human in the loop,” Choucair said.
Marathon, not a sprint
Choucair also uses the technology in his daily work, he said. For example, it used it to support tax restructuring that the company was considering. He said generative AI tools are helping answer complex tax questions, and companies are letting tax advisors scrutinize their conclusions.
For financial leaders who are still reluctant to use AI, Choucair said, “I just say to CFOs, the more you use AI, the better your life will be.” “But the other thing is, I have all my lieutenants.”
To use AI effectively, it’s important to get buy-in from your team members about it. Trintec has made “significant progress” in leveraging AI by its own employees, Choucair said. Trinech originally started with ChatGPT and rolled out enterprise licenses to the entire team early last year. After implementing the tool, Trintech’s employees quickly divided into three groups, according to Choucair.
The first members were “very energetic and focused, and they were our biggest cheerleaders for technology,” he said. The second group, on the other hand, was “very concerned because they might not have had the skillset to really benefit from that, and the middle group needed a lot of training,” he said.
It’s important for finance leaders to find the right balance between acting boldly and acting too quickly. Working on AI, especially for those just starting out, “looks like a sprint, but it’s not really a sprint,” Choucair says.
For CFOs who are just beginning their AI transformation journey, “I say to them: talk to your partners, talk to people you trust, find your core people.” [group] They’re really leaning toward AI,” he said.
