As Finance Duties Shift, CAOs Take On Strategic Role
With CFOs becoming co-pilots of the CEO, chief accounting officers emerge as essential partners in shaping the future.
Automation and artificial intelligence (AI) are accelerating the evolution of leadership responsibilities in the finance department, with cascading consequences for roles down the line.
CFOs are taking on broader strategic and external-facing duties, which is giving the chief accounting officer (CAO) more input at the executive table and, by extension, changing the role of the corporate controller.
Traditionally a cost manager, the CFO has become a co-pilot to the CEO, navigating uncertainty with scenario planning, forecasting, and strategic modeling to help create value for the business (see “The Changing Role of the CFO,” JofA, March 1, 2023). For CFOs to step fully into this space, CAOs must shoulder tactical and operational tasks traditionally assigned to the CFO.
Over the past 10 years, CAOs have been at the forefront of implementing impactful new accounting standards from FASB and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). The new standards not only changed how businesses accounted for revenue recognition, leases, and financial instruments but also forced CAOs to go beyond their traditional responsibilities of day-to-day governance and compliance to work with business unit leaders affected by the standard changes.
Technological advancements such as robotic process automation and AI, including machine learning, generative AI, and agentic AI, have further shifted the CAO’s responsibilities. As the highest-ranking finance professional reporting to the CFO, the CAO is now tasked with not only corporate governance and regulatory compliance but also risk and cost management; environmental, social, and governance reporting; the integration of large IT systems; and the implementation of business process improvements.
And as the CAO is becoming a partner of the CFO, the controller, who often reports to the CAO, is also taking on new responsibilities.
Traditionally tasked with keeping accurate books and reports, controllers are increasingly expected to support long-term value creation. According to the 2024 EY Global DNA of the Financial Controller Survey, 86% of controllers surveyed see their roles changing significantly over the next five years.
Rachael Crump, CPA/CITP, CGMA, the CAO at U.S.-based tech company Insight, frames it as a “trickle-down” effect: The more the CAO takes on strategic and external-facing work, the more controllership must absorb technical expertise, risk management, and AI-driven execution.
Crump is one of four leaders across the accounting profession who talked with the JofA about how technology, organizational complexity, and shifting expectations are redefining finance leadership roles. The other three are Tom Hood, CPA/CITP, CGMA, executive vice president—Business Growth & Engagement at the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants; Jennifer McCalman, CPA, vice president and CAO at U.S.-based confectionary The Hershey Co.; and Christopher Gullotta, senior vice president and chief accountant at U.S.-based tech company Kyndryl.
Their perspectives converged on a theme: The CAO is no longer just the guardian of past results but an essential partner in shaping the future.
THE AI CATALYST: ACCELERATION AND SKEPTICISM
Hood framed the change as an “inflection point” for the accounting profession. Closing the books, reconciling accounts, detecting anomalies, and flagging potential fraud are now increasingly executed by cloud-based applications and AI-powered systems.
“Transaction-layer processes are being automated,” Hood said. “The judgment of transactions, looking for anomalies, duplications, and fraud, is now accelerated by generative AI, so that’s automating a lot of those entry-level roles and shifting responsibilities.”
This shift frees CAOs from doing manual reconciliations, positioning them instead as interpreters of financial signals and guides to future performance.
While all four leaders recognize AI as transformative, they diverge in their approach to adoption.
Crump described Insight’s commitment to becoming an “AI-first solutions integrator,” implementing end-to-end AI in finance, HR, legal, and beyond. Her team’s goal is nothing less than to look “180 degrees different” in three years, with dramatic reductions in operating expenses. She sees AI as an equalizer across generations, forcing everyone to learn anew.
Hood echoed this enthusiasm but stressed that controllers must understand how to collaborate with AI, validate its outputs, and incorporate it into forecasting and scenario planning. He noted that AI is not only automating entry-level work but reshaping business models themselves, demanding financial expertise in discussions related to supply chains, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), business contracts, and beyond.
McCalman struck a more cautious note. At Hershey, AI adoption in accounting is limited due to concerns about accuracy and auditability. “We will end up using AI — it’s inevitable,” she said, “but it’s just not mature enough yet that we would rely on it for accounting and financial processes.” For McCalman, CPAs must learn to interrogate AI’s “black box,” ensuring controls and safeguards are in place before adopting widespread reliance (see “A New Frontier: CPAs as AI System Evaluators,” JofA, Nov. 1, 2025).
This tension — between acceleration and skepticism — has corporate finance teams racing to harness AI’s efficiency while remaining mindful of their fiduciary responsibilities.
BLENDING ACCOUNTING WITH STRATEGY AND FP&A
Traditionally, controllership focused on historical accuracy, while financial planning and analysis (FP&A) teams concentrated on projections. Automation is dissolving those boundaries and placing CAOs at the conjunction.
Hood emphasizes that CAOs must lean more than ever before into analytics, financial planning, and other forward-looking functions. This evolution not only requires technical upskilling but also a mindset shift — an embrace of ambiguity, complexity, and business acumen.
Crump’s experience at Insight illustrates this convergence. While her foundation remains rooted in the integrity of financial reporting, her day-to-day priorities extend far beyond. “The financial statement and the integrated audit are always going to be top of my list,” Crump said, “but it’s more my knowledge and viewpoint of that that I take into budgeting and five-year strategic planning.”
Her role increasingly touches investor relations, enterprise risk evaluation, and AI-driven transformation projects.
Crump acknowledged that the CAO role itself is inconsistently defined across organizations, which creates both challenges and opportunities. “It actually gives individuals with differing experience the opportunity to make the role what the organization needs and, at the same time, what’s interesting to each person,” she said.
PROCESS, SYSTEMS, AND BUSINESS INTEGRATION
McCalman underscored the importance of process excellence and system integration. At Hershey, she played a central role in leading a massive enterprise resource planning (ERP) migration from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA, an initiative that helped eliminate data silos and streamline processes for improved analytics and reporting.
She aspires to eliminate manual journal entries at Hershey. During her tenure at the company, McCalman’s team has reduced manual journal entries by about 60%, with a near-term goal of 90%. While she said they have made significant improvements, when it comes to process optimization, the job is never really done. She views the renewed emphasis on process as one of the ways the finance function has evolved to keep pace with technological advancements.
“Process has become much more important,” she explained. “Really understanding a process, being able to know how you control that process, how you can rely on that process, and how that shapes what your people need to do around that process has been one of the biggest things I’ve seen change.”
McCalman said her team has become woven into business processes, from procurement and contract negotiations to M&A activity. She believes CAOs bring a unique perspective, connecting disparate functions and ensuring that accounting treatments align with strategic choices. “We really have such a broad scope of understanding,” McCalman said, “while we might not be experts in every functional area, we understand how they all link together.”
Her focus on agility and foresight aligns with the profession’s transformation. By embedding her team earlier in business conversations, she positions them to prevent downstream issues rather than correcting errors after the fact. For example, McCalman is working on a project that would require Hershey to ship two types of products from two disparate supply chains together as one. She inserted her team into those conversations at the beginning, so they could ensure the accounting would be correct from the start, reducing the likelihood that they would need to go in and fix things later.
FROM BACK OFFICE TO FRONTLINE ADVISER
Gullotta has seen a similar pattern at Kyndryl, where his team is increasingly drawn into the front end of business decisions. “In advance of signing contracts, in advance of executing major shifts in business, whether we’re doing M&A deals or complex client transactions, our role has been much more front-end based,” he said.
Historically, his team acted as receivers, processing data after the fact. Now they are stewards of data, ensuring quality and relevance while applying their expertise to live decisions. Gullotta views curiosity as an essential trait for modern accountants: “How can I be more curious about where I’m going with the work that I’m doing? What are my business partners doing to generate the outcomes?”
By reemphasizing the accounting profession as one centered on integrity, standards, and professional judgment, he has positioned himself as not just a function leader but as a contributor to the very design of his organization’s business model.
SKILLS FOR THE NEXT-GENERATION CAO
Several skill sets emerged in the interviews as essential for future CAOs:
- Analytical and forward-looking skills: Developing predictive analysis and scenario-planning skills.
- Technological literacy: Understanding AI, automation, ERP systems, and digital platforms — not just their functionality but their risks.
- Business acumen: Engaging in strategy, M&A, investor relations, and business model innovation.
- Process and risk management: Designing end-to-end processes with embedded controls to minimize manual intervention.
- Curiosity and communication: Asking the right questions, translating across functions, and ensuring alignment between finance and business leaders.
- Transformation mindset: Embracing change, leading ERP or AI initiatives, and embedding agility in finance organizations.
Leaning into transformation rather than resisting it, McCalman suggested, is what “brings you to the table and gets people to listen.”
About the author
Hannah Pitstick is a content writer at the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Jeff Drew at Jeff.Drew@aicpa-cima.com.
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