Different Ways to Use AI for Your Startup’s Finances
AI has completely changed the way we do business, across the board. No industry is left untouched, including finance. Those who learn to benefit from AI's potential will thrive, but those who resist will find themselves left behind.
The real opportunity isn't in viewing AI as a threat or a complete replacement for human expertise – it's in understanding how to use it as a powerful copilot in your startup's financial operations.
In this article, we'll show you how to view AI not as a scary disruption, but as a strategic partner.
How to View AI in Finance
Since OpenAI launched ChatGPT, everyone has been talking about AI replacing us all. It makes sense, there’s a whole bunch of things AI can do better, faster, or more simple than us. But when it comes to your startup’s finances, it can’t replace us. AI is not your accountant, bookkeeper, or CFO. Instead, you should think of it as an enablement tool.
AI is your financial copilot. It can help you see potential issues before they become true problems, it can help you explore what the possible solutions to these issues are, and it can help you figure out the pathways to actually making those solutions happen.
That is if you can figure out how to truly use AI. Because it’s only as good as its inputs. “Garbage in, garbage out” has never been more true. If your financial data is inconsistent, incomplete, or poorly organized, AI won't magically transform it into actionable insights. If you lack basic financial literacy, AI won't compensate for these knowledge gaps – it will only magnify your mistakes.
How to Use AI for Finances
If you want to implement AI successfully, there is one thing you shouldn’t do: jump on every new shiny tool that comes up. Because there’s lot of them. Over the past few years, thousands of different AI tools have launched. Just trying to use every single one won’t help you long–term. The key is to make strategic, measured decisions based on proven results. But how do you do that?
1. "Wait and Watch"
Rather than implementing every new tool that promises life changing results, look at what's working for others in your industry. This approach helps you avoid expensive mistakes and find truly valuable solutions.
2. Example Applications
Success with AI often comes down to how well you structure your prompts and define your use cases. Here are some things you use AI really well for:
Analyzing documents: feed AI with existing professional content like KPMG opinion papers to extract insights and identify patterns.
Starting due diligence: using AI to analyze data, contracts, and documentation for faster, more detailed reviews.
Finding patterns: using AI to identify trends and anomalies in financial data that might take humans hours or days to spot.
3. Use Proven Solutions
At Ursa Consultants, we work with Numeric, which has changed the financial process completely. Numeric's platform shows how AI can transform financial workflows.
It automates financial analysis by identifying and explaining account fluctuations automatically. It generates clear, auditor-ready variance explanations. It reduces month-end close time by up to 70%.
And that’s just a few of the incredible things Numeric can do for your finances. If you want to learn more about how you can use AI for your finances (with Numeric) get their free guide here.
4. Focus on Enhancement, Not Replacement
The goal is to enhance your financial processes rather than overhaul them. To achieve this, look for AI solutions that integrate smoothly with your existing workflows and provide clear value, whether that is in terms of time saved or improved accuracy. The solutions should support human expertise rather than replace it, allowing for a team approach that uses both technology and human insight.
5. Don’t Start from Scratch
Instead of starting from scratch, it is important to choose systems that are already trained on relevant financial data and can improve your existing financial workflows. These systems should integrate with your current financial stack and provide transparency in their decision-making processes.
Looking Ahead
It is completely understandable if you're worried about AI replacing financial professionals, but that’s missing a crucial point: AI isn’t going to replace your job, it’s going to replace your tasks. And that distinction matters.
It’s a partnership rather than a replacement – but AI will certainly transform the financial landscape. It allows smaller teams to handle larger workloads, lets professionals deliver better work, and frees up time for more strategic thinking. The key is that AI boosts human capabilities rather than replaces them.
The reality is that AI needs human expertise far more than we need AI. Its performance is only as good as its user. Good outputs need good inputs, good interpretation, and good follow up action – all human skills that AI cannot replicate.
So, will some jobs be affected by AI? Absolutely. But it’s going to take the jobs of those who are scared of AI, not the jobs of those who embrace it and master it. You shouldn’t be worried about whether or not AI will impact your role, you should be worried about how it will impact it and how you can prepare yourself to thrive in that new version of your role.
