Limelight Software, a cloud FP&A platform provider, today released its 2026 FP&A Statistics Report, which compiles over 50 benchmarks on how finance teams are operating, investing, and adapting. The data reveals a finance function caught between rising technology investment and legacy workflows. 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.
Key findings include that 77% of CFOs and senior finance leaders plan to increase FP&A technology spending in 2025, with 47% expecting a 10%+ increase versus 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. AI adoption is set to more than double inside 12 months: 28% of finance departments currently use AI in forecasting, and another 39% plan to adopt it within the next year per PwC. The AI in FP&A market alone is projected to grow at a 34.8% CAGR through 2034.
Spreadsheets remain near universal, with almost 100% of FP&A professionals still using them for monthly planning and reporting, according to the AFP. 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: 61% of CFOs say inaccurate forecasting is the single biggest barrier to controlling costs, per SAP Concur. Additionally, 82% of companies make decisions based on stale information, and 85% say outdated data leads directly to lost revenue.
Transformation programs are stalling: 69% of finance transformation initiatives are progressing slower than planned, and 30% fail to hit their goals outright, most often due to poor change management, according to Gartner. The CFO role keeps expanding: 82% of CFOs say their remit has grown significantly over the past five years, per Egon Zehnder, and 81% now see themselves as the primary drivers of business growth. AI is reshaping forecasting first: 66% of finance leaders say generative AI will have the biggest immediate impact on explaining forecast and budget variances, per Gartner.
Commenting on the report, Rosie Shea, BDM at Limelight Software, said, "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." 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 is available at Limelight's website.
