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The State of Strategic Finance 2025

Finance Teams Grow Up, Glow Up, and Warm Up to AI

Get insight into finance teams’ key challenges and priorities across several topics such as navigating the economy, people management, organizational processes and technology.

In partnership with  9fd28c842301184dca017abdc324638d

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The world may be in constant flux, but Finance is in the driver’s seat helping their business ride out that change.

These days we’re all reminded that the only certainty is continuing uncertainty. As a result, finance teams have become more integral to their business than ever, generating accurate forecasts and profitability reports more frequently than in the past, to help stakeholders and leaders make the right calls.
 
To step up to this challenge, finance teams are breaking out of the confines of their departments, growing and upskilling their teams, and embracing new technologies–but with room for improvement.
 
In partnership with BPM Partners, we surveyed 218 finance leaders to uncover what’s driving their strategic planning in 2025.

Key Findings from The State of Strategic Finance 2025

More than half of finance teams are already using AI in their operations.

57% of respondents said they’re actively using AI for at least some of their finance operations.
 
Another 21% have acquired it but have yet to fully realize its potential. Only 8% said they don’t have any plans to implement AI.

Bar chart showing the extent to which finance teams are using artificial intelligence: 28% use AI in several use cases, 29% in some use cases, 21% have their own AI solutions not yet in use, 14% plan to use AI, and 8% have no plans to use AI.
72% of finance leaders are planning to add headcount to their teams this year

Finance teams are seeing and anticipating growth in the scope of their role.

Despite 81% of respondents stating their headcount is sufficient for their current workload, nearly three quarters said they had plans to add headcount to their finance teams in 2025.
 
That’s a signal that finance leaders are expecting the demand on their team to grow.

Finance teams are collaborating cross-functionally and contributing to business-wide strategic decisions.

Finance teams are getting involved in more areas of the organization, with 30% of respondents saying they collaborate with stakeholders and departments outside of Finance on an “ongoing” basis.
 
48% also said they are “always involved” in business-wide strategic planning, which is a shift from 2022, when 40% of respondents we surveyed said they have a seat at the table for most strategic planning decisions.

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Most finance teams are automating their processes to some degree, but there are still blind spots.  

While only 5% of respondents said they had not implemented automation measures into their workflows at all, the remaining 95% still have pain points that could, potentially, be solved by automation. 
 
While a majority (76%) of respondents have automated their financial reporting process, only around 40% have done so for their budgeting, forecasting, financial consolidation and financial close processes. 
 
What’s more, 89% of respondents said they still rely on Excel despite having planning software in place.  

“A year ago, AI was not top of the priority list for the companies we spoke to. [...] A lot of people don't want to be that pioneer and be the first one to adopt a new technology. And we're past that pioneer stage to some extent, where lots of companies have now adopted AI.”

craig-schiff

Craig Schiff
President and Lead Analyst, BPM Partners

About the Survey 

Vena’s State of Strategic Finance 2025 report results from a broad survey of 218 finance leaders. The survey was administered during October and November 2024.

It included respondents from a diverse set of industries–ranging from healthcare and financial services to higher education and mining.

The majority of finance professionals we surveyed work for companies with 500–1000 employees. 42% of respondents hold the title of manager, while 28% are directors, 19% are in their company’s C-Suite, and nearly 10% are VPs. 

About Vena

Vena is the #1 agentic AI-powered FP&A platform purpose-built to harness the full power of the Microsoft technology ecosystem for finance teams everywhere.

Vena amplifies Microsoft's world-leading productivity tools, cloud technology and AI innovation to make FP&A, operational planning and adjacent strategic processes more flexible, efficient and intelligent.

Thousands of the world’s leading companies rely on Vena to power their planning. For more information, visit venasolutions.com. 

About BPM Partners

BPM Partners is the leading independent authority on business performance management (BPM/CPM/EPM) and related business intelligence solutions and has been recognized by Forbes as one of America’s Best Management Consulting Firms. The company helps organizations address their budgeting, planning, financial consolidation, close and reporting, regulatory compliance, profitability optimization, key performance indicator (KPI) development, and operational performance challenges. Vendor-neutral experts guide 
companies through their BPM initiatives from start to finish while both minimizing risk and costs, and maximizing buy-in and adoption. 
 
For further details, visit bpmpartners.com.