For accounting and finance leaders, the conversation around AI often centers on efficiency. Yet the more meaningful question is what happens when accounting teams no longer spend most of their time processing transactions?
That question was at the center of a recent Controllers Council and Ramp Shop Talk webinar, Agents, AI, and Automation: Two Controllers’ Firsthand Lessons. Neil Brown, Executive Director of Controllers Council, was joined by Melissa Montgomery, VP Controller at Ramp, and James Agius, Financial Controller at Skool, for a practical discussion about how automation, AI agents, and modern finance technology are changing the day-to-day work of controllers.
The discussion moved beyond theory and focused on firsthand experiences, including how a single-controller finance function manages millions in monthly spend, how AI agents support accounting workflows, and why finance professionals should view automation as an opportunity to increase their strategic impact.
Managing a Growing Finance Function with AI Agents
Skool is a rapidly growing SaaS platform that enables users to create and discover communities. As the company expanded, so did the demands on its finance operations.
Agius explained that he manages the entire finance function himself while relying heavily on AI-powered tools and automation.
“I am a one-man team. My team is strictly AI agents. So that’s who I manage. I don’t manage any human beings.”
While that setup may sound unconventional, the volume involved is substantial. Agius noted that Skool processes more than $5 million in monthly spend and nearly $50 million per month through its marketplace.
As transaction volume increased, manual reporting and oversight became increasingly difficult.
“The spend grew so fast that it became obviously too much for the CEO to keep doing.”
The challenge was not simply processing transactions. It was maintaining visibility, making timely decisions, and ensuring finance could support the company’s growth without becoming a bottleneck.
Eliminating Transaction Backlogs Through Automation
One of the most memorable examples from the discussion involved Agius returning from a two-week holiday break.
While Skool’s business continued operating, thousands of transactions accumulated during his absence. Historically, that type of backlog would require significant time and manual effort to resolve.
Instead, automation handled nearly all of it.
“Coming back in after the vacation, all I had to do was basically go through and categorize sixty seven transactions.”
More than 2,000 transactions had already been coded, categorized, approved, and synchronized into the ERP through automated workflows.
According to Agius, the remaining transactions required review only because they involved specific event classifications that still needed human judgment.
“That took me about, as you said, like 30 minutes.”
The experience illustrates how automation can remove repetitive accounting work while allowing controllers to focus attention where expertise and judgment are still required.
Building Trust in AI Requires Understanding How It Works
For many finance leaders, trust remains one of the largest obstacles to AI adoption.
Agius acknowledged that he initially shared those concerns.
“If it’s something that I don’t understand, I usually don’t trust.”
Rather than immediately deploying AI across finance operations, he invested time in understanding how large language models, integrations, APIs, and security controls function.
That education became the foundation for broader adoption.
“Once I truly like it clicked and I understood like, okay, this is how it works. Now I understand where the potential pitfalls are for security.”
He emphasized that finance professionals do not need to become software engineers. However, developing a practical understanding of AI systems is increasingly important.
“We can no longer just be experts in our field, but we have to kind of dive into this new area of knowledge, which is cybersecurity.”
The discussion highlighted a broader shift occurring across finance organizations. Controllers are increasingly expected to evaluate and govern technology in addition to overseeing financial reporting and compliance.
Creating Guardrails Before Expanding Automation
Trusting automation does not mean removing oversight.
Throughout the discussion, both speakers stressed the importance of review processes and governance controls.
Agius described how he structures his AI environment using multiple specialized agents supported by review mechanisms.
“I have seven roles and each role is an AI agent that has access to multiple functions.”
He also maintains a system administrator agent that reviews the work of other agents and enforces established controls.
“That’s what I’m talking about when I’m talking about guardrails.”
Even highly automated workflows continue to include approval steps and human review where appropriate.
This approach allows finance teams to benefit from automation while maintaining accountability, auditability, and compliance.
Moving from Doing the Work to Reviewing the Work
One of the strongest themes throughout the webinar was the evolving role of the controller.
As automation takes over transaction processing, coding, reconciliations, and other administrative activities, finance professionals gain time to focus on analysis and business support.
Agius described the shift simply: “My job has gone from doing to reviewing.”
That change has allowed him to spend more time working on forecasting, unit economics, cash management, and strategic planning.
For Montgomery, the same trend is changing how finance teams are structured.
“They are definitely being put in a reviewer capacity far earlier than they would have been ten years ago.”
Rather than eliminating accounting talent, AI is accelerating the development of higher-value finance responsibilities.
Why Strategy Becomes the Real Opportunity?
As finance teams automate more routine work, their contribution to the organization expands.
Agius explained that his greatest excitement about automation is not efficiency itself. It is the ability to spend more time helping the business make better decisions.
“It freed up a lot of my time to go and strategize.”
He pointed to work involving unit economics, cash flow, foreign currency decisions, and profitability initiatives as examples of areas where finance can directly influence business performance.
His philosophy reflects a broader vision for the profession.
“We need to become an asset and not a liability.”
Controllers have a unique vantage point because they see the financial story of the business unfold through every transaction, investment, and operational decision.
As Agius noted: “The best storyteller is cash, money movement.”
That perspective positions finance leaders to contribute well beyond compliance and reporting functions.
Start with the Biggest Pain Point
For organizations wondering where to begin, the speakers offered practical advice.
Rather than attempting to automate everything at once, finance leaders should identify the activities consuming the most time and creating the greatest friction.
“Write down all of your current pain points.”
Once those priorities are clear, finance teams can evaluate available tools, learn how they operate, and begin addressing challenges one at a time.
Agius encouraged attendees to remain curious and willing to experiment.
“Just take it one step at a time.”
The finance organizations that learn how to effectively combine human judgment with automation will likely gain a meaningful advantage in speed, insight, and scalability.
The Future of Finance is Review, Judgment, and Strategy
The webinar made one point abundantly clear: AI is not replacing the controller. It is reshaping how controllers spend their time.
Routine transaction processing, coding, approvals, and data gathering are increasingly being handled by intelligent systems. The value of finance professionals now lies in interpretation, oversight, governance, forecasting, and decision support.
For organizations willing to embrace these tools thoughtfully, the opportunity is not simply greater efficiency. It is the ability to elevate finance from a reporting function to a strategic partner.
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