The controller’s responsibilities are expected to look considerably different by 2030. Artificial intelligence, automation, changing talent requirements, and greater governance obligations are already influencing how finance departments operate, and those changes are likely to accelerate during the next five years.
Controllers Council recently previewed findings from its Controllership 2030 survey and study, which gathered responses from more than 300 finance professionals, primarily across North America. The research examines how the duties and responsibilities of controllers may change as organizations adopt AI and automation while contending with persistent accounting talent challenges.
During the Controllers Council and Lineos webinar, Controllership 2030: Study and Predictions Panel, CFO Joy Mbanugo and Bilal Aziz, AI & Platform Product Leader at Lineos, joined Controllers Council Executive Director Neil Brown to discuss the findings and consider what they mean for controllers, CFOs, and finance departments preparing for 2030.
Controllers Expect Their Role to Change
The study suggests that finance professionals anticipate substantial changes to the controllership over the next five years. During an attendee poll, 61% said the controller role will change significantly by 2030, while 43% said it will become more technology focused.
That shift is already becoming visible. Traditional accounting and finance responsibilities remain central to the controller’s work today. According to the study, 68% of respondents identified traditional accounting and finance duties, including bookkeeping and reporting, among their top responsibilities. Financial planning and budgeting followed at 66%, while strategic planning stood at 42%.
AI management and oversight, by comparison, ranked among the top duties for only 10% of respondents today.
By 2030, respondents expect a considerably different allocation of their time. Financial planning and budgeting remained first at 61%, followed by strategic planning at 55%. Bookkeeping and reporting declined to 45%, a 23-percentage point reduction from current responsibilities. AI management and oversight climbed to 34%.
Mbanugo believes that percentage could eventually prove conservative.
“I would say AI management may be two or three on this list at core function.”
Aziz similarly expects the work removed through automation to be replaced by responsibilities involving supervision and review.
“So, like it’s important to know the controllers aren’t really losing work. They’re just trading it in for something else. they’re essentially being promoted into reviewing and supervising.”
The findings indicate that automation may alter the composition of the controller’s workload more than the underlying importance of the position.
Finance Is Still in the Experimental Stage of AI Adoption
For many accounting departments, AI remains relatively early in its deployment.
An attendee poll found that 56% said AI was being experimented with, piloted, or implemented by internal staff. Another 18% said AI training was planned or underway, while 18% reported that AI was not currently being used.
Aziz characterized the current stage succinctly: “Everybody’s experimenting and flirting with it, learning it, right? Again, this will change drastically year to year.”
Current use cases also illustrate where organizations are most comfortable applying the technology. Chat-based assistance for accounting and tax tasks led at 64%. Predictive forecasting followed at 31%, autonomous accounting agents at 27%, and intelligent variance analysis at 20%.
Adoption was considerably lower for automated reconciliations, risk monitoring, audit support, and tax support.
One reason for that disparity is the degree of assurance required when technology begins affecting financial records and regulated processes.
As Aziz explained, “’Because you must show your work, right? Because every number traces back to some source and you need an approval, you need an audit trail. So you can’t just have a black box, right?”
Higher-stakes applications therefore require more than technical capability. Finance organizations also need appropriate controls, traceability, security, and governance before they can comfortably delegate consequential processes to AI.
Expectations for 2030 Extend Well Beyond Chatbots
Although chat-based assistants currently dominate finance AI use, respondents anticipate much broader adoption by 2030.
Seventy-one percent expect to use chat-based assistance for accounting and tax tasks. Predictive forecasting rises to 59%, autonomous accounting agents to 50%, automated reconciliations to 49%, and automated reporting to 40%. Only 2% said they do not expect to use AI or automation by 2030.
Aziz also identified several capabilities that could become commonplace but were not presented separately in the study, including continuous close, automated narrative generation, and scenario modeling tied directly to actual results.
Continuous close could be particularly consequential because reconciliations and variance identification could occur throughout the reporting period rather than being concentrated around a traditional monthly close.
Scenario modeling could undergo a similar change. Rather than rebuilding forecasts periodically, finance teams could use AI to update forecasts as underlying financial information changes.
These applications would move automation deeper into established finance processes, which would also place greater responsibility on controllers to understand how those systems reach their conclusions.
Reconciliations, Journal Entries, and the Close Are Prime Candidates for Automation
When respondents were asked which accounting and finance functions are most likely to become highly automated by 2030, account reconciliations ranked first at 67%. Manual journal entries followed at 65%, monthly close at 58%, and AP processing at 53%.
The concentration of expected automation around these activities is understandable. They frequently involve substantial volumes of repetitive, rules-oriented work.
Aziz described this category as “high volume, like low judgment work.”
Respondents also expect automation to extend into AR processing, spreadsheet reporting, general ledger maintenance, audit support, compliance, tax, and treasury.
Mbanugo believes the eventual scope could be even broader. She noted that functions that can already be automated today are likely to become more efficient as AI capabilities improve.
The larger question, therefore, concerns what controllers will do with the new capacity that automation creates.
Automation Could Free Controllers for More Strategic Responsibilities
The survey asked respondents what percentage of today’s controller responsibilities they expect to be automated by 2030. Thirty-eight percent selected 21% to 40%, while another Twenty-five precent selected 41% to 60%. Twelve percent anticipated automation of 61% to 80% of current responsibilities.
Both panelists expected a substantial portion of existing work to be automated.
Mbanugo placed her estimate somewhere between 41% to 60% and 61% to 80%, depending upon company size, complexity, and technological sophistication.
She does not view that degree of automation as eliminating the controller position. Instead, she sees an opportunity for controllers to participate more extensively in strategic discussions.
“I don’t think that that automates a controller out of a job. I think what that does in the future, the controller has more time to be involved in strategy.”
For controllers interested in eventually becoming CFOs, this shift may be particularly pertinent. Greater automation of reporting, reconciliation, and other recurring activities could provide controllers with additional capacity to participate in planning, operating decisions, and other responsibilities traditionally associated with the CFO.
Finance Teams May Change More in Composition Than in Size
The study also examined how finance organizations themselves could change.
Fifty-five percent of respondents expect greater centralization or use of shared services by 2030. Forty-seven percent anticipate new positions dedicated to AI, data, and technology oversight, while 42% expect flatter organizational structures with fewer layers. Thirty-one percent foresee greater outsourcing or offshoring.
When asked specifically about staffing, 41% expected finance teams to remain approximately the same size but require different skills. Thirty-five percent anticipated smaller teams, while 19% expected larger teams.
Mbanugo pointed to emerging positions such as finance engineers and finance AI architects as examples of how the profession could develop. Finance departments may also employ more people with data expertise as technology becomes more closely integrated with accounting operations.
Aziz agreed that team composition may matter more than absolute headcount.
“You’re not gonna keep the same people doing the same jobs, to Joy’s point, right? You’re gonna be retraining, replacing, reskilling.”
That distinction is important. Organizations may still require substantial finance expertise, but the mix of accounting, analytical, technical, and governance capabilities within the department could change considerably.
AI Governance Is Becoming a Controller Responsibility
Greater automation also creates additional oversight obligations.
When respondents were asked which emerging governance responsibilities will become more important for controllers by 2030, AI governance ranked first at 80%. Data governance followed at 64%, with cybersecurity at 59%.
For Aziz, these responsibilities have a direct connection to work controllers already understand.
“Controllers, they’ve always owned internal controls. What’s happening now is just the AI and data governance are becoming, in my mind, the new internal controls.”
The fundamental questions remain familiar. Finance professionals need to determine whether they can trust a number, trace its origin, explain how it was produced, and defend the underlying process to an auditor.
AI adds another layer to those questions because controllers may increasingly need to evaluate automated workflows, models, and outputs alongside traditional accounting controls.
Cybersecurity will require broader collaboration. Mbanugo expects finance, accounting, legal, and IT to work closely as organizations determine how AI systems should access financial information and interact with enterprise applications.
The Controller and CFO Relationship Could Become Closer
Automation may also alter the division of responsibilities between controllers and CFOs.
In the national survey, 61% of respondents expected controllers to absorb more duties currently held by CFOs. Fifty-nine percent expected controllers and CFOs to divide duties more distinctly, while 40% said controllership could become the default path to the CFO position.
Mbanugo sees considerable room for controllers to assume additional strategic responsibilities, particularly if automation reduces the time required for recurring accounting work.
Her advice for controllers interested in the CFO position was practical: “try to automate as much as you can, implement AI as much as you can, and take as much of take as much work as you can off the CFO’s plate.”
Technical proficiency alone, however, will not prepare controllers for those responsibilities. They will also need the judgment and business understanding necessary to participate credibly in decisions beyond the accounting department.
AI Fluency and Data Skills Will Carry Greater Weight
The study provides a clear indication of the skills finance executives believe will matter most by 2030.
AI skills ranked first at 81%, followed by data analysis and analytics at 64%. Technical accounting remained prominent at 41%, while technology management ranked at 27%.
At the same time, respondents anticipate persistent talent constraints. Seventy-two percent identified AI and technology skills gaps as a growing challenge, while 63% cited CPA and accountant shortages. Upskilling and training followed at 43%.
These findings create an unusual situation for finance organizations. They need professionals with established accounting knowledge while simultaneously requiring capabilities that were rarely part of traditional accounting education.
Aziz argued that developing AI proficiency will also require a different approach to professional learning.
“AI skill building is different. You have to iterate, learn, and try, right? On real work, get the wrong answer, keep trying, figure it out.”
For controllers, continued experimentation may therefore become an important complement to formal training
Tasks May Disappear Before Jobs Do
The webinar concluded with a discussion about one of the most persistent questions surrounding AI: whether widespread automation will eliminate accounting positions.
Mbanugo expects significant automation, but she distinguished between eliminating jobs and consolidating the duties associated with them. She also noted that adoption remains uneven across industries and organizations.
Aziz drew an even clearer distinction between jobs and tasks.
“The tasks are going to start getting eliminated or automated, maybe is a different way of saying it. But not the jobs.”
Judgment, exception management, audit communication, accountability, and governance remain areas where finance professionals have an important role. Those responsibilities may become more consequential as automated systems perform a greater portion of routine accounting work.
The greater job risk may be concentrated among positions composed almost entirely of repetitive, mechanical activities. Professionals who can evaluate AI output, question assumptions, interpret financial information, and exercise judgment will be better situated for the changes ahead.
Preparing the Controllership Function for 2030
The Controllership 2030 findings suggest that the next five years will bring considerable changes to the profession, but the controller remains central to the finance organization.
Traditional accounting expertise will continue to matter. What changes is the collection of responsibilities surrounding it. Controllers are likely to oversee more automation. Traditional accounting expertise will continue to matter. What changes is the collection of responsibilities surrounding it. Controllers are likely to oversee more automated processes, assume greater responsibility for AI and data governance, work with increasingly technical teams, and participate more extensively in strategic decisions.
Preparing for that environment does not require predicting precisely which technology will prevail by 2030. It requires building the skills, controls, processes, and organizational relationships necessary to use new capabilities responsibly as they mature.
For controllers and CFOs considering how these developments may affect their teams, the full panel discussion provides additional survey findings, commentary from Mbanugo and Aziz, and examples of where AI and automation may have the greatest effect on finance operations.
Watch the full Controllership 2030 Study and Predictions Panel here.
About the sponsor
Lineos brings finance into focus. It gives teams a single line of sight across the full financial workflow, from budgeting, planning, and reporting through close, consolidation, reconciliation, tax, disclosure, and lease. At every stage, Lineos pulls diverse data from across the business into one place, with powerful AI surfacing the insights that drive action. By freeing finance from spreadsheet forensics and chasing numbers, Lineos enables them to move from reporting the past to shaping what’s next, equipped with the tools they need to drive better decisions and unlock breakthrough insight. Learn more by visiting https://www.insightsoftware.com/lineos/
