Treasurers and Controllers

Prepare or direct preparation of financial statements, business activity reports, financial position forecasts, annual budgets, or reports required by regulatory agencies.

AI: Fully automatable - Given structured financial data and templates, AI can generate financial statements, forecasts, budgets and regulatory reports end-to-end, though outputs are commonly subject to human review and audit.

Analyze the financial details of past, present, and expected operations to identify development opportunities and areas where improvement is needed.

AI: Fully automatable - AI excels at analyzing historical and real‑time financial data to detect trends, anomalies, and opportunities and can produce actionable improvement suggestions and scenario analyses.

Prepare and file annual tax returns or prepare financial information so that outside accountants can complete tax returns.

AI: Fully automatable - By 2025 tax software and AI can compile financial data, prepare tax returns, and often file routine returns or prepare complete packages for accountants, enabling full automation for many filings.

Compute, withhold, and account for all payroll deductions.

AI: Fully automatable - Payroll computation, withholding, and accounting are already highly automated by mature payroll systems and AI-driven workflows that can fully perform these tasks.

Supervise employees performing financial reporting, accounting, billing, collections, payroll, and budgeting duties.

AI: Partial - AI can support supervision with performance analytics, task assignment, and coaching suggestions, but human supervisors are required for personnel management, judgment, and legal responsibilities.

Coordinate and direct the financial planning, budgeting, procurement, or investment activities of all or part of an organization.

AI: Partial - AI can coordinate planning, run optimization models, and provide actionable recommendations, yet directing cross-functional financial strategy and making final investment decisions remains a human role.

Develop internal control policies, guidelines, and procedures for activities such as budget administration, cash and credit management, and accounting.

AI: Partial - AI can draft internal control policies and procedures from regulations and best practices, but final policy approval, tailoring to organizational context, and legal accountability require human leadership.

Maintain current knowledge of organizational policies and procedures, federal and state policies and directives, and current accounting standards.

AI: Partial - AI can continuously ingest, monitor, and summarize changes to laws, standards, and posted internal policies, but contextual interpretation and final judgment about organizational applicability still require human oversight and access controls.

Provide direction and assistance to other organizational units regarding accounting and budgeting policies and procedures and efficient control and utilization of financial resources.

AI: Partial - AI can produce policy guidance, templates, and procedural recommendations to support other units, but authoritative direction, change management, and cross‑functional negotiation require human leadership.

Advise management on short-term and long-term financial objectives, policies, and actions.

AI: Partial - AI can model scenarios and recommend short‑ and long‑term financial strategies, but providing holistic advice that incorporates political, cultural, and fiduciary judgment remains a human responsibility.

Monitor financial activities and details, such as cash flow and reserve levels, to ensure that all legal and regulatory requirements are met.

AI: Partial - AI can continuously monitor cash flow, reserves and regulatory indicators and flag noncompliance or risks, but final legal determinations and remedial actions typically require human review and signoff.

Evaluate needs for procurement of funds and investment of surpluses and make appropriate recommendations.

AI: Partial - AI can evaluate funding needs, simulate investment options and recommend instruments based on risk/return models, but market judgment, counterparty selection and fiduciary decisions need human oversight.

Monitor and evaluate the performance of accounting and other financial staff, recommending and implementing personnel actions, such as promotions and dismissals.

AI: Partial - AI can track performance metrics, provide evaluations and candidate recommendations, but making and implementing personnel decisions (promotions, dismissals) involves legal, ethical and interpersonal factors that require humans.

Develop and maintain relationships with banking, insurance, and external accounting personnel to facilitate financial activities.

AI: Partial - AI can automate outreach, prepare communications and manage scheduling with external partners, but relationship development, trust building and negotiation remain human-centric activities.

Receive, record, and authorize requests for disbursements in accordance with company policies and procedures.

AI: Partial - AI can receive, record and route disbursement requests and even auto‑authorize routine low‑risk payments, but authorizing significant disbursements and fraud‑sensitive approvals generally require human authorization.

Delegate authority for the receipt, disbursement, banking, protection, and custody of funds, securities, and financial instruments.

AI: Partial - AI can draft delegation frameworks, recommend authority matrices, and generate related documents but cannot legally assume organizational authority or perform the final human authorization and custody responsibilities.

Conduct or coordinate audits of company accounts and financial transactions to ensure compliance with state and federal requirements and statutes.

AI: Partial - AI can automate transaction testing, anomaly detection, and workflow coordination for audits but cannot fully replace human auditors' professional judgment, on-site verification, and attestation responsibilities.

Handle all aspects of employee insurance, benefits, and casualty programs, including monitoring changes in health insurance regulations and creating budgets for benefits and worker's compensation.

AI: Partial - AI can monitor regulatory changes, automate benefits administration, and model budgets, but human judgment is still required for negotiations, plan design decisions, and fiduciary responsibilities.

Receive cash and checks and make deposits.

AI: Partial - Remote deposit capture and automated check-processing systems can automate deposits, but physical receipt, secure custody of cash/checks, and certain compliance controls still require human or physical procedures.

Lead staff training and development in budgeting and financial management areas.

AI: Partial - AI can create, personalize, and deliver training content and track learner progress, but cannot fully replace human leadership, mentorship, and the interpersonal aspects of staff development.

Perform tax planning work.

AI: Partial - AI can analyze tax rules, run scenario planning, and surface optimization opportunities, but complex tax planning requires human judgment, client-specific strategy, and legal responsibility.

Determine depreciation rates to apply to capitalized items and advise management on actions regarding the purchase, lease, or disposal of such items.

AI: Partial - AI can calculate depreciation under applicable rules and model buy/lease/dispose scenarios, but advising management on strategic asset decisions and exercising judgment remains a human role.