OpenAI and PwC Build Finance Agents for Forecasting, Payments, and Procurement
OpenAI and PwC announced a partnership Tuesday to develop AI agents for core finance functions including forecasting, planning, reporting, procurement, payments, and treasury.
The collaboration focuses on real-world applications rather than theoretical designs. The two firms are already building a procurement agent inside OpenAI's finance organization and plan to apply those learnings to other agents.
Finance Roles Shift From Process to Oversight
Under this model, finance professionals move from executing processes to overseeing and improving AI agents. They remain accountable for judgment, controls, and outcomes while helping define standards that allow agents to perform more effectively.
"Finance has always been about judgment, trust, and making decisions in environments filled with complexity and constant change," said Sarah Friar, OpenAI's finance chief. "AI gives finance leaders a much deeper ability to see around corners and act faster."
Tyson Cornell, PwC's U.S. advisory leader, said the shift represents a fundamental change in how finance operates. "Organizations are moving from process efficiency to intelligent, decision-centric operations," Cornell said. "Through our collaboration with OpenAI, we're helping clients embed agentic AI into the core fabric of the finance function, enabling more proactive insights, stronger controls, and a more adaptive operating model."
Data Quality Becomes a Competitive Factor
The partnership arrives as organizations across industries adopt AI agents and automation. Success depends partly on data preparation.
Most B2B contracts and accounts payable/receivable workflows were designed for human judgment, not machine execution. These documents are often dense and ambiguous, making them difficult for agents to process reliably. Organizations that can feed agents high-quality, structured data may gain an advantage over those relying on document-centric processes.
Learn more about AI for finance applications and how these tools integrate into financial operations.
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