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Financial Close Automation Enters a New Phase: 67% of UK CFOs Prioritise Account Reliability Over Speed, Sixthfin Research Finds
A 2026 study of 303 UK CFOs finds that the financial close puts heavy pressure on finance teams, yet account reliability, rather than close speed, remains the priority for 67% of finance leaders. The findings reframe what financial close automation software means for UK enterprises: automating controls, automating the analysis of complete data populations rather than samples, and automating balance sheet reviews.
Sixthfin Report on Accounting Transformation
London, United Kingdom, Oct. 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The financial close is placing sustained pressure on UK enterprise finance teams, while finance leaders are also broadly open to artificial intelligence in accounting workflows. In new research among 303 UK CFOs, deadlines are a source of stress for teams at 96% of companies, and 84% of CFOs say they trust AI for the automation of repetitive and time-consuming accounting tasks. When finance leaders describe what they want from the close, however, the answer is not speed. It is confidence in the numbers.
The findings come from the Sixthfin Report on Accounting Transformation, conducted by Odoxa for Sixthfin among CFOs at large and mid-sized private UK companies who are personally involved in their organisation’s monthly or periodic close. The full study is available at https://sixthfin.com/en/resource/sixthfin-report-on-accounting-transformation/
Most companies close within three to eight days. The challenge is what finance teams must accomplish inside that window: collecting information from multiple entities, reviewing accounts, investigating anomalies, documenting controls and producing numbers that can stand up to audit, board and management scrutiny. 67% of CFOs name improving the reliability of accounts as their top priority for the close, ahead of reducing delays, and only 42% describe the way their organisation manages the close as very satisfactory.
The results point to a shift in what financial close automation needs to mean for large organisations. Much of the last decade of investment automated the production of accounting information: transactions, postings, and the mechanics of getting a period closed. What the survey identifies as unresolved sits after that stage, in the review of what was produced. On that reading, close automation for enterprise finance covers three things: the automation of controls, so that testing is standardised and repeatable across entities rather than dependent on who performs it; the automation of analysis across complete data populations rather than samples, so that small or repeated anomalies are visible instead of being missed between sampling intervals; and the automation of balance sheet reviews, so that account analysis and justification are structured, documented and comparable period to period.
