Chief financial officers and tax leaders are now innovating with artificial intelligence to manage mounting geopolitical turbulence, talent shortages and regulatory developments, according to EY.
According to the latest EY Tax and Finance Operations (TFO) Survey, those tax and finance leaders surveyed revealed they are harnessing generative AI (GenAI) and agentic AI to future-proof their operating models to contend with unprecedented challenges, including geopolitical disruption, evolving trade and tariff policies, and talent shortages.
The study, which polled 1,600 CFOs, senior finance and tax leaders across 30 jurisdictions (including over 30 from Singapore) and 22 industries highlights a transformative shift in how tax and finance functions are adapting to a constantly changing environment, found that amid geopolitical turbulence, 91% of responding organisations in Singapore are already making moderate or significant changes to their business operations, including supply chains, over the next two years.
Meanwhile, 94% of Singapore tax leaders surveyed revealed they are prioritising leveraging data, GenAI, and technology to drive innovation, insights, predictive analytics and automated reporting.
EY also found that there was increased confidence in the potential of AI, as respondents from Singapore expect the ability of the technology to help enhance the effectiveness of tax and finance functions by 29% over the next two years and unlock up to 23% more budget for reallocation to strategic, high-value activities.
Further, EY says generative and agentic AI are reshaping the tax workforce amid challenges, with 61% of respondents expecting the retirement of senior tax professionals to significantly impact their functions. Sixty-six percent say fewer new accountants entering the profession will be detrimental to meeting talent needs.
The survey found that tax professional respondents in Singapore are spending 55% of their time on routine activities and would like to slash that by more than half. Conversely, they would like to more than double the amount of time they spend on higher-value specialized tasks.
