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AI, again, dominated a recent controllershippanel discussionfeaturing accounting leaders from Biogen, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Akebia Therapeutics, and Roivant. Panelists were candid about both the promise and the risks of AI tools.
Jenni Humes, chief accounting officer at Roivant, who is 18 months into her job in the life sciences industry, spent some time digging into everything to understand the processes behind it. She suggested that AI provides a similar reason to really look at your company’s processes. “You can pull apart your processes and see what’s working, what is cumbersome, and what people are spending a lot of time and struggling with. And whether you’re going to solution that through an AI tool or just changing the way that you go about things, it’s important to evaluate.”
The panelists described a wide spectrum of AI maturity, ranging from early exploratory stages to more established, foundation-building efforts. None described themselves as fully mature or having AI embedded across controls, but the depth of use and comfort levels vary meaningfully.
With the different sized companies represented, that was reflected in their use and stage of AI. For example, Richard Malabre, senior vice president and chief accounting officer of Akebia Therapeutics, said with a company of only 200 employees and a small IT department, they are on the lagging edge of adopting AI. “I would much rather move slowly and learn off all the other people who are on the leading edge of the technology.”
On the other side of that was Vertex, where Scott Godsoe, executive director, assistant corporate controller, explained that the company was early-to-mid stage with AI and approaching it strategically and methodically. “We are very focused on the foundations and making sure that we have a good data lake. And ingesting data that we think will be valuable to have in that central spot,” explained Godsoe. “We are then being thoughtful about what the orchestration layer that sits on top of it will look like. And that’s all being built out in a meaningful way.”
Godsoe also shared that they are being thoughtful about the build-versus-buy decisions for the long-term. “We want to make sure we have a solid intake process for what to prioritize that will deliver maximum value to the group.”
Sean Godbout, chief accounting officer, global controller at Biogen, shared their AI use within controllership remains focused on individual productivity rather than having it embedded in their controls. “We refer to as entrepreneurial ship — like getting in there, making changes, learning and, hopefully sharing those insights with others.”
A shared theme across the panelists is that none have integrated AI into SOX or internal control environments, with all describing a strong preference for keeping human review in place given the compliance sensitive nature of their work.
The panelists also shared that their auditors are also using AI and getting more comfortable with it as well. This creates a two-way conversation rather than a one directional push from companies alone.
Humes noted that she attended an auditors’ AI conference where an example was shared of someone using AI to perform cash reconciliations. “The prompts that were put in were to reconcile all the differences, so the AI figured out a way to walk into their payment system and send out payment to ensure that that it matched,” Humes said. “We ultimately need controls, and it comes back to the basis of block and tackling in compliance and accounting.”
While using the right prompts is one way to get better, more specific performance out of AI, one session at the Finance and Accounting for Biosciences conference focused on some actual AI use cases shared by accounting professionals in pharma. One shared a monthly variance analysis using Microsoft Copilot, working through the steps and prompts to show how the results were achieved. This expert said of AI, “The goal is not perfect output, the goal is transparent output that can be reviewed.”
Another demonstrated how she used their company’s internal AI to create an SOP through video recordings (MP4s), screen shots, and prompts. Her advice: prompt the AI to “Ask me questions to clarify gaps.”
If real use AI demos are appealing, a similar session will be offered this December atFinance and Accounting for Biosciences West, as well as theLife Sciences Accounting and Reporting Congressin March 2027.
Life Sciences Accounting & Reporting Europe
Part of London Life Sciences Week, where Europe’s life sciences finance and accounting leaders connect to master IFRS compliance, drive IPO readiness, modernise FP&A and lead with impact.
