Wanted: CFOs With AI Experience – Forbes

This is the published version of Forbes’ CFO newsletter, which offers the latest news for chief finance officers and other leaders focused on the budget. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every Tuesday.

AI is taking on new importance in the corporate finance department. A new analysis of 1,000 financial job listings by Datarails found that 27% of all listings for CFO jobs last month were looking for some AI knowledge—more than three times the 8% of listings mentioning AI a year ago.

Most of these listings want someone who will implement AI in the finance department—either new or existing systems—and increase profits, efficiency, cost-savings and smart decision-making ability. But some are looking for more, asking the CFO to own the leadership of company AI initiatives or lead strategy for full implementation across all business functions. Datarails found that most job posts wanted use of AI in conjunction with what the study calls “Big Skills”: leadership, management, initiative and planning and analysis.

“Companies are looking for a new kind of financial leader—one who can turn raw numbers into game-changing insights,” Datarails co-founder and CEO Didi Gurfinkel said in a press release. “At the very least AI has become a skillset that CFOs must have familiarity with.”

Expectations that financial leaders are well-versed in AI extend past the CFO’s office. Mentions of AI have increased in listings for all types of financial jobs in the last year. For financial planning and analysis roles, AI appears in 35% of listings—more than twice the 14% of roles that mentioned it at the beginning of 2024. Nearly a quarter of all controller listings want AI expertise—up 9% from January 2024—and 16% of accountant jobs include AI as a requirement, an increase of 3%.

While AI use has expanded throughout nearly every business, many see its efficacy spreading beyond chatbots. AI is a powerful tool to keep a pulse on what’s going on with business finances, and experience with or enthusiasm for it is getting to be table stakes for any new financial job. Now is a good time to explore, experiment and research how AI can make the CFO’s office more effective and with more up-to-date information—a necessity right now as wild swings in U.S. economic policy and the potential for further inflation could make the corporate financial picture murky.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump pledged to end the “inflation nightmare.” But the first consumer price index report of his presidency showed that inflation was actually up in January. Headline annual CPI inflation was 3% last month, more than consensus analysts’ projections of 2.8%.

To nobody’s surprise, in a social media post, Trump blamed the inflation rates on his predecessor, Joe Biden. But the bird flu is probably more of a direct culprit. As bird flu ravages poultry farms and infected chickens are culled, the supply of eggs is dropping, sending prices sky-high. On last month’s CPI, the cost of eggs was up 15.2% over December and 53% over January 2024. In response, some grocery stores are rationing egg purchases. Restaurant chain Waffle House is implementing a 50-cent surcharge per egg, which it says will be adjusted as market conditions change.

But even without food prices, inflation last month remained stubborn and sticky. Core inflation, which excludes more volatile food and energy prices, was up 3.3% year-over-year last month, with prescription drugs, hospital services, used cars and vehicle insurance seeing the largest increases.

Retail spending was up a bit in January, but a close look at the data shows that the actual figures aren’t quite as promising as the federal government’s statistics make them seem. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, retail sales in general were up 4.5% year-over-year, with the largest increases at car dealerships, restaurants and bars, and general merchandise stores like Walmart and Target, writes Forbes senior contributor Pamela Danziger. In its statistics, the National Retail Federation saw this as a slowdown, looking only at core retail as a whole and not car dealerships, gas stations and food service. However, what does not change between the different estimates is that January 2024 was a slower-than-usual retail month, meaning all sales were compared to relatively weak numbers.

TARIFFS

Last week, President Trump announced another set of tariffs, which he called the “BIG ONE” on social media. The new set of import taxes are reciprocal tariffs, charging other countries the same rate for their imported goods as they charge the U.S. Trump has said this is fair, claiming that in most cases, other countries are taxing U.S. imports at a higher rate. Trump has said this is a simple solution, but it’s unclear what these tariffs would look like. They could match an average tariff of all goods exported to that country, or mirror the tariff for each good in each country—a relatively complex set of calculations. Trump said on Saturday he would consider value-added taxes, which are commonly used in Europe and levied during each stage of production, as tariffs as part of this plan—which could amount to an even more tricky level of calculations. Deutsche Bank economists estimated last week that if Trump implements the country-level tariff strategy, the U.S. weighted average tariff rate will be 4.8%, up from about 1.5% in 2022. Deutsche Bank predicted the cost of these tariffs would be borne by consumers, leading up to a 0.5% annual increase in core personal consumption spending.

The entire impact of tariffs is likely to be more, however. This is only one of Trump’s many tariff announcements. There is currently a new blanket 10% tariff on goods from China. Days after his inauguration, he announced 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, which have been suspended for 30 days and are set to take effect next month. Another set of 25% tariffs on aluminum and steel imports from all countries are slated to go into effect on March 12. A report determining how the reciprocal tariffs will be enacted is due on April 1, with tariffs to begin sometime after that.

POLICY + REGULATIONS

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Climate-Related Disclosure Rule was never enforced, and it appears it never will be. Last week, Acting SEC Chairman Mark Uyeda wrote that the rule, which is stayed pending a court challenge, was “deeply flawed and could inflict significant harm on the capital markets and our economy.”

The rule set guidelines for publicly traded companies to quantify their sustainability initiatives as part of their required reporting, writes Forbes contributor Jon McGowan. In the U.S., there are no standards for sustainability reporting, and many companies use terminology that is not well-defined or can be manipulated. The SEC began work on this rule in 2022, and it was adopted last March—but was immediately challenged in court.

It’s unclear where this leaves the issue of corporate sustainability reporting in the U.S., though many other nations and the state of California have sustainability disclosure laws on the books. According to a study by EcoOnline last year, more than 80% of U.S. companies are proactively building net-zero programs, even without legislation requiring them to do so. Two-fifths have specific sustainability budgets.

DEEP DIVE

The 50 Hottest Fintech Startups in 2025

It’s been a challenging environment for most startups the last few years, but fintech has started to see its fortunes improve. Today, Forbes published its tenth annual Fintech 50 list, naming the U.S.-based financial startup businesses positioned to make a splash in financial technology areas ranging from payments to B2B banking to insurance.

The Fintech 50 list is always growing and changing—and only Stripe and Plaid have appeared on every year’s list. This year, 18 first-timers represent a mix of new startups and companies whose products are finally breaking through after years of work. Increase founder and CEO Darragh Buckley was also the first employee of Stripe, and he started Increase in 2020 to help small and midsize banks and fintechs better contact large payment networks. Relay is an online small business banking platform allowing multiple checking and savings accounts to automate cash management and integrate with popular accounting software. And Parafin, founded by three former Robinhood data scientists, uses data from a variety of marketplaces to underwrite loans that don’t solely rely on personal credit scores or guarantees, aiming to provide more loans to women- and minority-owned businesses.

Of both new and old businesses on the list, payments, B2B banking and Wall Street and enterprise businesses had the most honorees. Real estate, insurance and blockchain and crypto had only a few.

FACTS + COMMENTS

Honda and Nissan ended merger talks last week after failing to agree about the proposed deal’s structure.

$60 billion: Reported value of the potential combined company, according to Reuters

94%: Drop in Nissan’s net income for the first half of the fiscal year. Honda reportedly subsequently moved to acquire Nissan, which Nissan opposed

‘A strategic partnership aimed at the era of intelligence and electrified vehicles’: How Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi—in which Nissan is the largest shareholder—will go forward, according to press releases from the companies

STRATEGIES + ADVICE

Everything is political nowadays, but business and economic forecasts shouldn’t be. Here are some ways to take your bias out of your projections.

Yes, you can still cut costs and maintain your business’s quality and service. Here are seven things you can do.

VIDEO

QUIZ

Which company settled a lawsuit last week that had been filed by President Donald Trump for an accusation of censorship?

A. CBS

B. X

C. Gannett

D. The Associated Press

See if you got it right here.