UK & Ireland finance leaders are ready to hand reconciliations to AI, but they want proof first

Finance leaders in the UK & Ireland are ready to let AI take on more of their work, but they're selective about where. Three questions sit behind that: 

• Which finance activities are leaders comfortable handing to AI? 
• What would make them trust AI with financial decisions? 
• Where do they expect AI to deliver the most business value?

At Wolters Kluwer CCH Tagetik UK & Ireland inTouch 2026, we polled roughly 100 attendees to find out. Here's what they told us.

This suggests finance leaders are not approaching AI autonomy in the same way across every process. Some activities are much further ahead than others. 

The findings build on Wolters Kluwer's 2026 Future Ready CFO research. The UK & Ireland regional report found finance leaders entered 2026 with strong confidence and more readiness than global peers to lead AI-driven change, with 53% naming AI as a top trend shaping finance roles. The new polling shows where leaders are ready to start and what they need to see before going further.

Which finance activities are UK & Ireland leaders most comfortable handing to AI?

Transaction matching and reconciliations ranks well ahead of every other activity tested:

• Transaction matching and reconciliations: 81% 
• Financial close processes: 39% 
• Management reporting and analysis: 38% 
• Financial planning and forecasting: 23% 
• Cash flow and liquidity management: 19% 
• Risk and compliance monitoring: 15%

Only 5% said they would not be comfortable with AI autonomously managing any of the listed activities. The results reflect future intent rather than current AI adoption.

I'm not surprised reconciliations come first. The work is high-volume and rules-based, so leaders can check quickly whether AI is getting it right. 

What would make leaders trust AI with financial decisions?

Proven accuracy over time is the top factor that would increase leaders' trust in AI to make financial decisions, selected by 32% of respondents. Strong data quality and consistency followed at 20%. Explainability of AI outputs drew 15%, as did clear governance and accountability. 

A similar factor tops the list when leaders consider significantly expanding AI across their function, with 42% selecting demonstrated accuracy over time. 

Better quality and consistency of underlying data followed at 30%, and 26% chose proven ROI and business outcomes. 

For me, the interesting point is the emphasis on evidence. Finance leaders are willing to give AI greater autonomy, but they want to see that it performs accurately over time before extending its role. 

What business value do UK & Ireland leaders expect from AI?

Increasing productivity and efficiency is the biggest perceived opportunity AI presents over the next three years, selected by 42% of respondents. Accelerating decision-making ranked second at 23%, followed by unlocking deeper business insights from data at 18% and improving forecasting and planning accuracy at 12%.

What should finance leaders take from this?

Start where the results are easiest to prove. Reconciliations are where leaders are most willing to give AI greater autonomy, and they offer finance teams a clear way to assess whether it is performing accurately. From there, teams can use that evidence to decide where greater autonomy makes sense next.