Corporate spending accelerating toward AI in 2026

Finance leaders are poised to limit pay and headcount increases throughout 2026 while expanding investment in artificial intelligence and other technologies, according to a recent survey.

More than 300 CFOs and finance leaders surveyed by Gartner projected their companies will offer average pay increases of 4.5% in 2026, down from 5.4% in 2025 and 6.1% in 2024.

“The real story, however, lies in collapsing headcount growth expectations, from 6% in 2025 to just 2% in 2026,” Nauman Abbasi, CPA (Canada), a senior director at Gartner, said in a news release. Abbasi said that just 21% of leaders in the survey plan increases of between 4% and 9%, down from 31% in 2025.

Not coincidentally, human resources spending was forecast to slow the most among the nine corporate functions covered by the survey: 29% of the leaders projected an increase of 4% or more in HR spending in 2026 while 22% projected a decrease of 4% or more, the lowest percentage of increased spending and the highest percentage of decreased spending in the survey.

More than half of the respondents are from North America and come from a mix of companies (public, private, and not-for-profit).

Three-quarters of the finance leaders said their technology budgets were set to rise in 2026, with 48% forecasting increases of 10% or more. Nearly 60% plan to increase finance function AI investments by 10% or more.

Abbasi said the average budget increase for technology across all industries was around 10%, ranging from around 15% in the financial services sector to 6% in manufacturing.

Among the nine corporate functions, sales led the way with 61% of finance leaders projecting an increase of 4% or more versus 10% projecting a decrease of 4% or more. That was followed by corporate IT (55% increase vs. 13% decrease) and marketing (50% increase vs. 15% decrease).

“Sales and IT are expected to see the largest budget increases in 2026, with over half of CFOs planning higher spending, and 28% anticipating double-digit growth in both areas, with marketing close behind,” Abbasi said. “The emphasis on sales and marketing reflects their role as growth drivers, while IT budget increases reflect structural needs like rising SaaS costs, digital process expansion, and AI-related expenses.”

While the survey forecast more spending on AI at the expense of spending on people, CFOs in another recent survey confirmed the importance that people continue to play in the development of AI-related solutions.

— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Bryan Strickland at Bryan.Strickland@aicpa-cima.com.