Midmarket finance leaders believe they are ahead of most other departments when it comes to AI adoption.
However, new research reveals a significant perception gap between leadership and operational roles, highlighting an opportunity for channel partners to help SME customers establish proper foundations before rushing into AI transformation.
The survey was commissioned by cloud accounting provider iplicit and gathered insights from 250 UK-based midmarket finance leaders on their AI readiness, usage and concerns.
On the surface, AI adoption appears high: 83% claim to have adopted the technology within their finance function, with 69% claiming they are ahead of the HR department, 67% ahead of sales, 56% ahead of engineering, and 55% ahead of IT.
The reality: partial adoption
While headline figures suggest strong progress, the reality is more complex. Only a third (35%) of finance leaders say they’ve fully adopted AI within their finance function. Almost half (48%) admit they’ve only partly adopted it.
More significantly, over half (51%) of CFOs surveyed believe they have fully adopted AI, compared to just 19% of Financial Controllers (FCs) – a 32-percentage-point gap between leadership perception and operational reality.
This perception gap persists when it comes to department comparisons. When asked how their AI adoption compares to other departments: 32% of CFOs and 34% of VPs/FDs believe they are significantly ahead of marketing, compared to just 13% of FCs. When comparing finance to IT, 39% of CFOs and 45% of VPs/FDs believe they are significantly ahead, versus just 23% of FCs.
Rob Steele, CFO of iplicit, explains: “CFOs are measuring AI adoption by whether tools are available and being used. FCs are measuring it by whether their day-to-day operational work has fundamentally changed. That 32-percentage-point difference is telling us that deployment and meaningful adoption are two very different things.”
Andy Jackson, Financial Controller at iplicit, adds: “CFOs see AI generating board commentary and dashboards, so the strategic view looks highly automated. But from an operational perspective, many FCs are still spending days producing the underlying numbers before AI can even begin its analysis. Currently, AI is excellent at the presentation layer, but the foundational finance work still requires significant manual input.”
Mark Pullen, CEO of SoMax Finance, adds: “We’re seeing this perception gap every day in the midmarket. Senior leadership teams are convinced they’ve ‘done AI’ because dashboards and commentary look more automated. But when you get into the engine room with Financial Controllers and operational finance staff, the reality is very different. They’re still exporting spreadsheets, fixing data manually and stitching together numbers before the AI tools can even begin their analysis. The message we give our customers is simple: if the underlying processes aren’t automated, then AI isn’t genuinely live in your finance function – it’s just presenting the numbers faster.”
Chris Harman, Director at Candura Limited, adds: “In truth, many finance teams haven’t adopted AI in any meaningful sense yet. What we often see is experimentation rather than transformation. And that’s understandable – most SMEs are still working through foundational issues such as fragmented systems, inconsistent data, or manual processes that haven’t been revisited in years. Until those basics are addressed, AI can only sit on the surface rather than reshape how finance actually works.”
Widening confidence gap
When it comes to specific use cases, AI for strategic decision-making was most popular amongst CFOs (48%). Using AI to support integration with other functions was heavily skewed towards CFOs (56%) and VPs/FDs (55%), compared to just 16% of FCs.
Inconsistent patterns of AI adoption within the finance function have also created an AI confidence gap. 37% of all respondents consider themselves “AI champions” (actively testing and scaling AI tools). However, this skews heavily toward senior leaders, with 46% of CFOs and 38% of VPs/FDs identifying as champions, compared to just 26% of FCs.
Yet, despite high confidence from leadership, only 32% of respondents say they have received formal training on AI from their employer. The majority are teaching themselves by researching online (60%) or learning by doing (51%).
“There’s understandable pressure on senior finance leaders to lead the charge on AI adoption,” adds Rob Steele. “However, with formal AI training lacking and most implementations being partial, many teams may be rushing transformation without ensuring the necessary foundations are in place first.”
Foundations first: the channel’s role in responsible AI adoption
The disconnect between strategic vision and operational reality creates an opportunity for channel partners to guide SME customers towards responsible AI adoption.
Mark Pullen adds: “Channel partners have a critical role to play in slowing organisations down just enough to get the foundations right. We’re having more conversations now about data structure, governance and workflow automation than about the AI tools themselves – and that’s a positive shift. If the basics aren’t in place, companies end up with AI generating commentary on data they can’t fully trust.”
“Our job is to align the CFO’s vision with operational reality, and to set expectations properly. True AI enablement only happens when the whole finance function – people, data and systems – are ready for it. AI is only as useful as the finance data it’s built on. We’re pushing clients to fix the plumbing before they automate the kitchen.”
Chris Harman adds: “AI provides an amazing opportunity for organisations that are willing to put the basic building blocks in place. This means harnessing modern technology to support their tech savvy finance teams. The opportunity to exploit AI even at a rudimentary level will give finance teams a significant advantage over their peers and competitors at this point in time.”
“Finance leaders should feel energised about AI – not panicked,” Rob Steele concludes. “But what’s needed now is cutting through the hype and adopting the technology responsibly.”
For more information about iplicit, visit the website (www.iplicit.com)
