Accounting Seed Survey Finds Hidden Workload Undercutting AI in Finance
Accounting Seed’s survey of nearly 200 business and finance professionals at U.S. small and midsize companies finds that fragmented data and added oversight are limiting the productivity gains expected from AI in finance. The company says 82% of finance team members would get more value from AI if their financial data were held in one system.
- 82% of finance team members say one financial data system would increase AI’s value.
- 70% say AI created new responsibilities without removing existing ones.
- 54% often correct AI-generated outputs before using them.
- 66% say financial security concerns added AI governance work.
- 98% of executives use AI to increase team output, not reduce team size.
AI saves time, but creates more work
The research report, The Hidden Workload Behind AI Productivity in Finance, says AI is helping finance teams work faster while shifting additional tasks onto them. When financial information sits in disconnected tools, employees still need to combine the data, determine which figures are reliable and review AI-generated results before using them.
According to Accounting Seed, 81% of respondents say AI has saved them meaningful time. However, 70% say it has also given them new responsibilities without removing existing ones. The time saved therefore often goes toward preparing data, checking results and handling other work needed to make AI usable.
The report says 54% of respondents often have to correct AI-generated outputs, while 48% are concerned that AI is using the wrong data sources. In addition, 45% spend time cleaning data before AI tools can be used effectively.
Security concerns add governance work
Accounting Seed’s findings also point to security and policy requirements as another source of work around AI. Some 66% of respondents say concerns about financial data security have created additional governance and policy tasks. That figure rises to 74% among finance leaders.
The survey shows a difference between executives’ view of AI and the experience of finance teams. While 77% of executives say AI has freed time for higher-value work, 61% of finance team members say the same. Also, 46% of finance team members say AI has not delivered the productivity gains they expected, compared with 28% of executives.
Nearly all executives surveyed, 98%, say they use AI in finance to increase their team’s output rather than reduce its size. Accounting Seed argues that this capacity cannot reach the wider business when employees spend the time saved on data preparation, corrections and governance requirements.
Accounting Seed calls for a single source of truth
Nasser Chanda, CEO of Accounting Seed, said, “When your financial data lives in six places, your AI has six places to be wrong.” He said AI needs a single source of truth, an understanding of how a business operates and the ability to deliver strategic insights based on trustworthy information.
Ryan Sieve, CTO of Accounting Seed, said that when accounting and operational data share one platform, AI can use information from across the business without teams first piecing it together. He also said existing permissions and trust boundaries can help companies expand AI use without creating separate controls for every tool.
The full report includes findings from executives, finance leaders, finance team members, and Operations & IT professionals. For users, the research frames data integration, output review and governance as practical conditions for turning AI’s time savings into broader business value. Accounting Seed says adding more AI tools will not resolve underlying data problems when financial information remains fragmented.
