CFOs must learn from frontier finance teams how to position finance, so they can reshape enterprise decision-making by 2030, according to Gartner, Inc., a business and technology insights company. Gartner defines frontier finance teams as finance functions that are furthest along in building AI-enabled decision support, digital talent and new operating models.
Presenting at Gartner Finance Symposium/Xpo 2026 in London, Hakan Gunaydin, Sr Director Analyst in the Gartner Finance practice, argued that pioneering finance functions are beginning to show how finance can move beyond traditional reporting and analysis to provide always-on strategic simulations, enable smarter risk-taking and deliver finance services through digital products.
“In the near future, finance will provide insights and answers before even being asked,” said Gunaydin. “It will constantly scan where the enterprise is heading, help business leaders make smarter bets, and develop the workforce and ways of working needed to deliver on that promise.”
According to Gartner, frontier teams in 2030 will be defined by both their expanded role in the enterprise and the new operating model required to deliver it. They will manage strategic simulations, enable smarter risk-taking, reinvent governance and consolidate strategic planning capabilities. These activities will increase the speed, quality and consistency of enterprise decisions, while gradually creating the autonomous finance function, which will be machine-driven, tools-first, product-oriented and composed almost entirely of digital talent (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Key Attributes of Frontier Finance in 2030
CFOs Must Build the Capabilities to Reach the Frontier
“Decision clock speed, the time it takes an organization to move from ‘what if?’ to ‘do it,’ will become a competitive advantage or a liability,” said Gunaydin. “By 2030, finance-built strategic simulations of the enterprise will enable business leaders to make better and faster decisions.”
Finance teams will also need to counterbalance excessive risk aversion and enable smarter risk-taking by removing “growth anchors,” such as inefficient processes, opaque data, misaligned KPIs and internal controls that slow decision making or discourage bigger opportunities.
To deliver these capabilities, Gunaydin said finance teams will increasingly need to adopt a product mindset. This means building scalable tools, models, simulations and insights around defined user needs, with ongoing ownership and continuous improvement. “Finance always wanted to be closer to the business, said Gunaydin. “Acting as a product team makes it possible.”
“Very few companies will be fully at the frontier,” said Gunaydin. “But once CFOs set the right foundations and start taking the right steps, most will be at the frontier in many places.”
