Limelight Software today released its 2026 FP&A Statistics Report, which draws on more than 50 benchmarks to reveal a finance function caught between rising technology investment and legacy workflows. The report highlights that 77% of CFOs and senior finance leaders plan to increase FP&A technology spending in 2025, with 47% expecting a 10% or more increase over 2024, according to Gartner. The FP&A software market is projected to grow from $3.9 billion in 2023 to $9.7 billion by 2031.
Despite this surge in investment, nearly 100% of FP&A professionals still use spreadsheets for monthly planning and reporting, as reported by the AFP. Over half of FP&A teams now manage eight or more data categories and ten or more reporting tools each quarter. Meanwhile, 82% of companies make decisions based on stale information, and 69% of finance transformation programs are running behind schedule, with 30% failing to meet their goals entirely, often due to poor change management.
AI adoption is set to accelerate significantly. Currently, 28% of finance departments use AI in forecasting, but another 39% plan to adopt it within the next year, according to PwC. The AI in FP&A market alone is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 34.8% through 2034. However, forecast accuracy remains a critical challenge: 61% of CFOs say inaccurate forecasting is the biggest barrier to controlling costs, and 85% of companies report that outdated data leads directly to lost revenue.
The role of the CFO continues to expand. 82% of CFOs say their remit has grown significantly over the past five years, and 81% now see themselves as primary drivers of business growth. Half are planning a finance restructure. Generative AI is expected to have the biggest immediate impact on explaining forecast and budget variances, according to 66% of finance leaders, and 55% of retail and CPG finance leaders already use Gen AI in forecasting workflows.
"Finance leaders in 2026 are being pulled in two directions," said Rosie Shea, Business Development Manager at Limelight Software. "They're expected to drive strategy, sponsor digital transformation, and accelerate ROI, while still spending most of their week pulling numbers out of spreadsheets. The teams pulling ahead have stopped tolerating that gap." Shea added that the data shows a distance between intent and infrastructure, with CFOs committing larger budgets but nearly all professionals still working in spreadsheets. "Closing that gap is the work of the next two years."
The full report is available at Limelight's FP&A Statistics Report. The report compiles data from Gartner, PwC, KPMG, McKinsey, Deloitte, AFP, Workday, IBM, Egon Zehnder, AICPA & CIMA, Protiviti, SAP Concur, MGI Research, APQC, Verified Market Research, The CFO Alliance, and others.
