Hello and welcome back to the AI Moment podcast! I'm Danny Denhard, and this week we continue part 2 and 3 of finance and AI.

As a reminder, Jonathan and I sat down with finance expert Martin Spiller to discuss AI and its impact on the finance world, particularly for SMEs.

As promised if you’d like to listen to the full 35 minute interview with Martin enjoy it here exclusively on our site https://aimomentpodcast.substack.com/p/finance-and-ai-full-episode

In our conversation, we explored how AI can free up a significant portion of a finance professional’s time by automating routine "bean counting."

Martin explained how this saved time can be used for more strategic work, such as analysing business data and making crucial decisions to boost profitability. We talked about how "turnover is vanity, profit is sanity" and how a deep dive into customer profitability can reveal that a small number of clients are actually losing you money. Martin gave a brilliant example from his own business where they had to cut an unprofitable client to free up resources for growth.

We also discussed the power of AI in scaling a business without having to scale the headcount. As I’ve said before, I firmly believe the opportunity for SMEs is to make your existing people more efficient, not to replace them. By integrating AI into your workflows, you can double revenue with only a small increase in staff. Martin added that this approach makes a business more efficient and resilient, and therefore, more valuable to potential buyers.

We also touched upon the tools available, mentioning QuickBooks and Xero, and how they handle AI differently. Ultimately, while AI is a powerful tool, both of us agreed that it still needs human oversight to ensure accuracy and to prevent mistakes, particularly when dealing with complex data like cash flow forecasting.

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