Large companies can rely on in-house finance executives for strategic guidance. In contrast, many small business owners must make CFO-level decisions themselves. Mastercard believes a new “virtual executive” can help fill that gap.
The new agent AI services will eventually span multiple digital “executive executives,” starting with a virtual CFO that helps owners manage cash flow, working capital, and financial risk.
Why now? Mark Burnett, global head of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at Mastercard, said: “I hear the same thing all the time from small business owners: They’re stretching themselves too far; they’re CEO, CFO and COO all at once.” luck. Many people are “so buried in spreadsheets and day-to-day decisions that they have little time to step back and look at what’s really driving their business.” Virtual C‑Suite has been under active investigation for the past six months, he said.
Barnett describes this as “the next stage of digitalisation”, which uses AI agents to continuously analyze what’s happening across the systems small businesses already rely on, turning complexity into clear and timely recommendations. “Large enterprises have relied on this kind of always-on C-level insight for years,” he said. “We saw a real opportunity to bring these capabilities to small businesses.”
“Talk” to data
Virtual CFO is the first feature released this year and will be available through financial institutions, accounting platforms, and software providers. It specializes in three tasks: proactive cash flow risk detection, benchmarking and anomaly detection, and supplier payment optimization. These areas “are always at the top of the list for small business owners, but they are often the most difficult to access without a dedicated finance team,” Barnett said.
Mastercard, No. 152 on the Fortune 500, wants the experience to be more like talking to a colleague than reading a dashboard, he said.
“Our Virtual CFO is built around a conversational experience,” says Barnett. Owners can ask questions in natural language and receive clear explanations, graphs, and other visual output within the interface they already use.
“The key change is to move from ‘reading dashboards’ to ‘interacting’ with financial data,” he added. Agents do more than just report metrics. Interpret them, highlight risks and opportunities, and suggest next-best actions.
Scenario analysis is a core part of this service. Users can ask “what if” questions, such as a 10% decrease in revenue or change in payment timing, and the virtual CFO can simulate different outcomes based on the company’s own data. From there, your agent can present you with options on how to adjust your spending, collections, and payment schedules.
Barnett is careful to configure virtual executives as an enhancement tool, rather than a replacement for human financial leaders.
“AI does not exist to replace human judgment, experience, or leadership,” he said. Instead, it is designed to speed up time-consuming manual analysis and surface insights more quickly, allowing finance leaders to focus on higher-value strategic decisions, he added.
This will give small business owners who are already juggling multiple roles the ability to visualize cash flow, spot trends and access forward-looking signals, Barnett said. For teams with established finance teams, this acts as an extension of the team, automating data synthesis and transforming complexity into actionable guidance, he added.
Small and medium-sized businesses are increasingly turning to virtual or fractional CFOs to gain strategic financial expertise without the cost of full-time employment. Research shows that more than 60% of small and medium-sized businesses currently utilize outsourced CFO services, with flexibility and cost savings being the main drivers, and the global virtual CFO market is expected to grow from $4.7 billion in 2026 to more than $10 billion by 2035.
The launch of Mastercard’s Virtual C‑Suite is based on the provision of AI capabilities and transactional data. The company processes billions of transactions each year, reaching 175 billion by 2025, and plans to combine these network insights with the companies’ own financial activities.
Barnett points out that over the past decade, small and medium-sized businesses have digitized much of their operations. Digital payments have brought richer transaction data and built-in fraud protection, and accounting and business platforms have increased visibility into cash flow, expenses, and performance. But what has become clear is that digitization alone is not enough, he said.
