In every transaction, every global supply chain, and every business decision, finance forms the invisible infrastructure that keeps the world running. It enables companies to grow, stabilizes economies, and builds trust. Yet this foundation is under pressure – challenged by increasing complexity, growing regulatory demands, and outdated, manual processes.

The Structural Challenges of Accounting

Many companies still operate with tools from past eras – Excel spreadsheets, OCR technologies, and manual workflows. As companies operate more globally and regulations become stricter, finance teams struggle with the growing burden of compliance requirements, transaction volumes, and audit demands. At the same time, a generational shift is underway: experienced accountants are retiring while fewer young professionals are entering the field.

These challenges are not new, and they will not disappear overnight. But finance leaders stand at a crossroads: they can choose AI now – and actively shape the future – or wait until outdated systems force them to act. The difference? Competitive advantage or catching up.

The Opportunity in Times of Change

Accounting is undergoing not just a demographic shift but also a technological revolution. The rapid development of artificial intelligence offers the chance to fundamentally redesign financial processes. For years, accounting systems have been gradually improved – digitized, but rarely truly reimagined. Today, many processes are digital, yet they lack real intelligence. Invoices require manual checks, discrepancies must be resolved by people, and accountants spend countless hours on tasks that could be automated.

Now we stand at a turning point. Just as paper books were replaced by ERP systems and manual accounting was moved to the cloud, AI enables the next big leap in the financial world. Companies that embrace this change today will lead the industry in the coming decade.

The Future is Intelligent, Adaptive, and Agentic

AI in finance should not only automate – it should act intelligently. Imagine a world where invoices are not only processed but questioned when something is amiss. Where approvals are not just forwarded but anticipated based on past patterns. Where month-end closes are no longer stressful, but a seamless, error-free process.

AI will become an active member of the finance team – recognizing discrepancies before they arise, optimizing transactions in real-time, and thereby saving real money. It not only collaborates but thinks ahead and dynamically adjusts workflows. This is the future we are building with Finto:

An intelligent accounting system that ...

• organizes itself – understands invoices, assigns accounts, and resolves discrepancies.

• makes independent decisions – obtains approvals, prioritizes tasks, and accelerates processes.

• fills system gaps – generates valuable insights and transforms financial data into a comprehensible story.

• keeps pace with the speed of business – eliminates manual follow-ups while ensuring a complete audit trail.

It is not about replacing accountants – but empowering them. By automating tedious routine tasks, we help finance teams focus on what matters: strategic insights and value creation. Unlike generic automation tools, Finto is specifically designed for finance teams. Our AI not only processes but learns, adapts, and makes independent decisions in real-time, seamlessly integrated into existing workflows. Our goal is to make finance faster, smarter, and more autonomous – and to give teams the tools to shape the future of accounting.

The Future Belongs to Those Who Shape It

AI will not wait for accounting and finance systems to adapt. Companies that implement modern, self-learning financial technologies today are not only securing efficiency gains but also competitive advantages, minimizing risks, and lowering costs. We do not claim to have all the answers – but we are determined to develop the best solutions together with experts: the finance and accounting teams themselves.

AI in accounting is inevitable and will generate up to 30 billion euros in added value worldwide in the coming years. The crucial question is: who will define this new category? The US is already ahead, but Europe has a unique opportunity: a deep-rooted financial expertise, a highly secure market, and the chance to build an AI leader that understands this complexity. If we do not seize this moment, someone else will.