Finance leaders are investing in technology at record levels, yet a new report from Limelight Software shows that spreadsheet dependency remains nearly universal, creating a gap between ambition and operational reality. The 2026 FP&A Statistics Report, based on over 50 benchmarks from industry sources including Gartner, PwC, and AFP, highlights a finance function caught between rising tech spend and legacy workflows.
According to the report, 77% of CFOs and senior finance leaders plan to increase FP&A technology spending in 2025, with 47% expecting a rise of 10% or more compared to 2024. The FP&A software market is projected to grow from $3.9 billion in 2023 to $9.7 billion by 2031. AI adoption is also accelerating: 28% of finance departments currently use AI in forecasting, and another 39% plan to adopt it within the next year, per PwC data. The AI in FP&A market is expected to grow at a 34.8% compound annual growth rate through 2034.
Despite these investments, the report finds that almost 100% of FP&A professionals still use spreadsheets for monthly planning and reporting. Over half of FP&A teams now manage eight or more data categories and 10 or more reporting tools each quarter. This reliance on manual processes contributes to significant challenges: 61% of CFOs cite inaccurate forecasting as the single biggest barrier to controlling costs, according to 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 Additionally, 82% of companies make decisions based on stale information, and 85% say outdated data leads directly to lost revenue.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 also stalling. Gartner data shows that 69% of finance transformation initiatives are progressing slower than planned, and 30% fail to meet their goals outright, often due to poor change management. Meanwhile, the CFO role continues to expand: 82% of CFOs say their remit has grown significantly over the past five years, and 81% now see themselves as primary drivers of business growth. Half of CFOs are planning a finance restructure.
Rosie Shea, Business Development Manager 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.’
Shea 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 report also highlights that AI is reshaping forecasting first. According to Gartner, 66% of finance leaders say generative AI will have the biggest immediate impact on explaining forecast and budget variances. In retail and CPG sectors, 55% of finance leaders are already using generative AI in their forecasting workflows.
The full 2026 FP&A Statistics Report is available at Limelight’s website. Limelight Software provides a cloud FP&A platform used by organizations including TED and Conservation International, integrating with systems such as Sage Intacct, Oracle NetSuite, and Microsoft Dynamics.
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