Corporate Finance Enters AI Era with Compliance and Human Oversight at the Core

Speakers at a forum during the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai stated that while artificial intelligence is revolutionizing corporate financial management, humans will continue to play a crucial role.

While AI is taking over established operations, experts believe that human-machine collaboration, supported by strong data protection, tight compliance, and human accountability for final decisions, will characterize the new era of financial regulation.

China's financial regulators are quickly establishing AI integration guidelines.

Deputy Director-General of the Accounting Department at the Ministry of Finance, Zhang Juan, announced at the forum that digital and intelligent accounting systems will be a focus area during the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030).

AI has gone beyond automation to transform the entire financial lifecycle, according to Qiu Wei, Chief Engineer of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization. Building a secure and controllable AI model must remain a priority.

Corporate finance departments are increasingly interested in Large Language Models (LLMs), according to the Intelligent Finance Report released at the forum.

Companies are eager to use AI models in financial reporting and forecasting, investment and finance management, tax management and compliance, internal auditing, and risk detection, according to the report.

Despite the technology's rapid acceptance, the paper emphasizes that AI will not replace financial professionals. Instead, AI will serve as an accelerator, enhancing human insight while leaving accountability to humans.

According to Zhou Ye, CEO of Shanghai-based payment firm Huifu, corporate finance is evolving significantly.

The finance department is upgrading from a 'rearview mirror' that only records past data to a 'dashboard' enabling real-time information and ultimately to a 'navigation system' that leads company strategy and business decisions," Zhou added.

For transaction-heavy industries such as payments, Zhou emphasized that integrating AI technologies directly into daily workflows enables organizations to streamline data governance while continuously capturing valuable operational knowledge.