Emburse Survey: Finance Teams Taking a Cautious Approach to AI and Rethinking ROI
Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a key factor in how finance teams assess business value and improve operations. A recent report from Emburse, a leader in travel and expense solutions, sheds light on how finance professionals in the U.S. and UK are adopting AI to enhance productivity and outcomes.
Surveying 1,500 finance professionals, the report reveals that 66% of organizations have invested in AI. However, many are still figuring out how to measure its true value. As finance teams push beyond basic automation, there's a clear demand for AI solutions that align closely with broader business strategies—optimizing spend, reducing risk, and accelerating decision-making.
From Expense Tracking to Strategic Visibility
“Expense Intelligence” is shifting finance teams from reactive tracking to real-time, strategic insights. Marne Martin, CEO of Emburse, highlights that finance leaders are eager to convert AI into tangible business value, but success depends on integrating spend data, automation, and decision-making into a unified process.
Currently, finance departments use AI moderately, averaging 3.7 AI-driven interactions per day, with 37% of their tasks influenced by AI. Over the next five years, planning and forecasting are expected to see the greatest AI-driven transformation (26%).
Concerns and Cautious Adoption
Despite growing adoption, finance leaders remain cautious. Their top concerns include:
- Data security and privacy risks (24%)
- AI errors or mistakes (18%)
- Impact on finance roles (18%)
- Compliance and regulatory challenges (10%)
Notably, 23% of respondents would consider leaving their jobs if their employer failed to manage AI risks properly. Still, 74% report that AI investments meet or exceed ROI expectations.
The highest ROI areas currently are accounts payable and receivable automation (26%), forecasting and budgeting (26%), and fraud detection (25%).
Changing How Finance Views Value and ROI
Adriana Carpenter, CFO of Emburse, points out that finance teams approach AI with the same analytical rigor applied to all strategic initiatives. This mindset is reshaping how value is defined, with a focus on integrity and creating resilient, data-driven workflows that improve both business results and team alignment.
Carpenter stresses that effective AI solutions must be purpose-built for finance, dependable, and capable of driving measurable impact at scale.
Measuring AI ROI: A Work in Progress
Measuring the return on investment for AI in finance varies widely. Some companies rely on traditional financial metrics like cost savings, fraud reduction, and revenue growth. Others emphasize operational efficiency, such as time saved or automation levels. Some take a qualitative approach, assessing customer or employee satisfaction post-AI implementation.
Importantly, 81% of surveyed finance professionals say their approach to measuring ROI has changed, influencing how they evaluate all business costs, including software and vendor partnerships. Many are moving beyond static cost analysis to embrace:
- Long-term strategic impact (30%)
- Real-time, adaptive evaluation frameworks (27%)
- Heightened focus on traditional metrics (53%)
This shift shows organizations are adopting a dynamic view of value, one that evolves alongside AI’s influence on business decisions.
About the Survey
The survey was conducted by Talker Research, with affiliations to the Market Research Society (MRS) and the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR). It included 1,000 respondents from the U.S. and 500 from the UK and was fielded from March 24-31, 2025.
About Emburse
Emburse provides end-to-end travel and expense management solutions trusted by more than 20,000 organizations across 120 countries. Their mobile-first, automated platforms streamline business travel, expense submission, approval, and reconciliation, improving financial visibility, spend control, and compliance.
Emburse’s solutions help finance teams save time, increase efficiency, and deliver meaningful value to their organizations.
For finance professionals interested in expanding their AI skills to keep pace with these trends, Complete AI Training offers courses tailored to finance roles.