Guide
AI for CFOs: how to choose (2026)
Last checked: 20 October 2026. We make CFO Sentinel. Categories and examples below are drawn from tools that appear in current "AI for CFOs" and "AI financial analysis" guides. Check each vendor before buying.
Start with the job, not the tool
Most CFOs who ask "which AI should I use?" have four different jobs in mind. They need different tools.
| Job | Category | Examples named in current guides | What to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Planning, budgeting and forecasting on live data | FP&A platforms with AI | Cube, Datarails, Pigment, Abacum, Mosaic | Integrations with your ERP and GL; who owns the model |
| Building or editing a model in a spreadsheet | AI spreadsheet assistants | Shortcut AI, spreadsheet copilots, general assistants in Excel | Whether every generated cell is marked as input, formula or assumption |
| Assembling and distributing board papers | Board portals / board pack tools | Planir and board portal vendors | Security, permissions, minute-taking |
| Testing what a model or paper will bear before it goes to the board | Review desk | CFO Sentinel | Whether facts, assumptions and gaps are kept apart, and missing inputs left missing |
These are complements, not substitutes. A team might plan in an FP&A platform, model in a spreadsheet, distribute through a board portal, and test the decision paper on a review desk.
Can AI build an LBO model?
It can produce one. The question is whether you can tell which parts came from the file. Ask a general assistant to turn a CIM into an LBO model and it will typically fill every cell, including the borrowing base, revolver draw and working-capital pattern the CIM never gave it. That is a model of a typical deal, not of yours.
A safer pattern: let the tool build structure, but insist that every input is either sourced to the file or marked as an assumption, and that missing inputs are listed rather than filled.
What CFO Sentinel does
- Evidence, inference, gap on every working. A number is evidence only when it is in the file, source named.
- Cash separated from EBITDA. And form separated from substance.
- Missing inputs stay missing. You get a framework and a required-data list, not a fabricated model.
- Jurisdiction named. Risk and confidence stated separately.
- Ask, Review, Deep Review. Deep Review runs two independent workings and settles them into one record, executive summary through next steps, built to sit in a pack.
- Matter kinds: FP&A, valuation, M&A, PE / LBO, venture, IPO, accounting, tax / structuring, distress, capital structure, strategy.
Where CFO Sentinel is not the right tool
- Live planning on your ERP data. Use an FP&A platform.
- Building the spreadsheet itself. Use a spreadsheet assistant, and check its cells.
- Distributing papers and keeping minutes. Use a board portal.
- Trading, tips or brokerage. It is not a trading terminal.
- An audit, tax opinion, legal opinion or regulated recommendation. It is none of those.
Where it is
- The board paper that has to survive scrutiny.
- The covenant question before the lender asks it.
- The CIM before the IC memo. What is in the pack, and what the buyer will contest.
- The note you have to answer, with the gaps on the page.
Questions to ask any AI finance tool
- When an input is missing, does it say so, or fill it?
- Can I see which numbers came from my file and which were assumed?
- Does it distinguish cash from EBITDA in its conclusions?
- Does it name the jurisdiction its view depends on?
- Will its output sit in a board pack as a record, or only as chat?
FAQ
What AI tools should a CFO use? Match the tool to the job: an FP&A platform for planning, a spreadsheet assistant for modelling, a board portal for distribution, and a review desk such as CFO Sentinel for testing what a decision paper will bear.
Can Claude or ChatGPT create an LBO model? General assistants can produce LBO structures. Check that every input is sourced or marked as an assumption, and that missing data is listed rather than filled in.
What is the best AI tool to generate a board report? For drafting, many tools work. For a board paper that has to be defended, use one that separates facts from assumptions, lists gaps and leaves a written record. CFO Sentinel's Deep Review is built for that.
Is CFO Sentinel financial advice? No. It is not an audit, a tax or legal opinion, or a regulated investment recommendation. Human judgment remains the authority.