Limelight Software today released its 2026 FP&A Statistics Report, drawing on more than 50 benchmarks to illustrate a finance function caught between rising technology investment and legacy workflows. The data shows CFOs are sponsoring AI and lifting FP&A budgets to record levels, yet nearly 100% of finance professionals still use spreadsheets for monthly planning, 82% make decisions on stale data, and 69% of finance transformation programs are running behind schedule.
According to the report, 77% of CFOs and senior finance leaders plan to increase FP&A technology spending in 2025, with 47% expecting a 10%+ increase over 2024 (Gartner). The FP&A software market is projected to grow from $3.9 billion in 2023 to $9.7 billion by 2031. AI adoption is set to more than double within the next 12 months: 28% of finance departments currently use AI in forecasting, and another 39% plan to adopt it within the year (PwC). The AI in FP&A market is projected to grow at a 34.8% CAGR through 2034.
Despite these investments, spreadsheet dependency remains near universal. Over half of FP&A teams now manage 8+ data categories and 10+ reporting tools each quarter. Forecast accuracy is the top cost-control obstacle for 61% of CFOs (SAP Concur), with 82% of companies making decisions based on stale information and 85% saying outdated data leads directly to lost revenue. Transformation programs are stalling, with 69% progressing slower than planned and 30% failing to hit their goals outright (Gartner), often due to poor change management.
The CFO role continues to expand: 82% say their remit has grown significantly over the past five years (Egon Zehnder), 81% see themselves as primary drivers of business growth, and 50% are planning a finance restructure. AI is reshaping forecasting first, with 66% of finance leaders saying generative AI will have the biggest immediate impact on explaining forecast and budget variances (Gartner). In retail and CPG, 55% of finance leaders are already using Gen AI in their forecasting workflows.
Rosie Shea, BDM at Limelight Software, commented: "Finance leaders in 2026 are being pulled in two directions. 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. They've centralised their planning data, automated the manual work, and put AI on real forecasting problems rather than treating it as a science project." She added: "What the data really shows is a distance between intent and infrastructure. CFOs are committing larger budgets to FP&A technology and accelerating AI adoption. But nearly 100% of finance professionals are still working in spreadsheets, and 61% point to forecast accuracy as their biggest cost-control problem. Closing that gap is the work of the next two years."
The full report, which includes benchmarks 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, is available at Limelight's 2026 FP&A Statistics Report.
