Finance teams can’t afford to ignore shifting spend trends and AI innovation

The financial risks of maintaining the status quo are growing as new trends reshape spend management. Some finance teams still rely on outdated systems, manual workflows, and disconnected data even while many companies acknowledge the need for change. The consequences of inaction go beyond inefficiencies, resulting in lost visibility, noncompliance, fraud, and missed opportunities.

Businesses have experienced a shift in employee spending behaviour as decentralised purchasing increases, driven by hybrid work and increased employee autonomy. Employees are using multiple booking platforms, making out-of-pocket purchases, and choosing payment methods based on personal convenience, rather than policy. More than half (61%) of finance decision-makers report that they lack visibility into near-real-time employee spend, leading to budgeting, forecasting, and cost control challenges.

Tax and compliance obligations are becoming harder to manage at the same time, adding more pressure to already stretched finance teams. Financial transparency, audit readiness, and tax accuracy are non-negotiable priorities as regulatory scrutiny intensifies, yet many businesses fail to track eligible spend correctly. Companies are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) and automated travel and expense (T&E) management tools to overcome these challenges and achieve greater levels of visibility and transparency.

AI gives finance leaders a way to take control. These tools can capture receipts automatically, identify policy violations, and track reclaim opportunities as they happen. AI also lets teams forecast more effectively, manage risk, and improve cost control by reducing manual work and providing accurate data.

Finance teams that still manage travel, expense, and invoice workflows through manual input and disjointed systems risk wasting time and increasing errors. More than AU$5 million is lost annually to misclassified expenses and receipt violations, while manual expense reimbursements account for 13 per cent of all fraud cases.

T&E is often one of the largest discretionary spend areas, yet it's also fragmented. AI-powered tools can reshape this space. Intelligent tools automate receipt capture, itemisation, fraud detection, and tax reclaim, removing the friction and inconsistency of manual T&E management.

These tools improve internal workflows and the employee experience. AI can create travel cost estimates in seconds, auto-populate expense reports, flag suspicious transactions, and suggest vendor decisions based on historical data. This means finance teams spend less time verifying transactions and more time analysing trends and driving value. The technology is available, the return on investment is proven, and the risks of delay are increasing. The cost of inaction isn't theoretical, it's measurable in lost dollars, missed insights, compliance gaps, and diminished agility. Finance leaders who act now can control spend, empower their teams, and position their companies for the future.

Read the full article about what is the cost of doing nothing on CFOTech portal