Accounting’s role is evolving. Chief Accounting Officers (CAOs) are now expected to weigh in earlier, move faster, and take a clear position on business decisions, especially as new pricing models and AI-powered workflows add complexity to how numbers are produced.

As expectations on finance expand, the question becomes whether the organization can move at that speed with confidence in the numbers. That is where the CFO–CAO partnership becomes more central.

What CFOs Now Expect from the CAO

As CFO roles become more strategic, expectations for the CAO are shifting too.

As Zuora’s COFO, Todd McElhatton, shared, the CAO role has moved beyond running the close and managing compliance. It now requires someone who can interact directly with the business, understand revenue complexity, and navigate real-time trade-offs. There is still a perception that the CAO is there to say no, but in practice, the role is about working through the problem and helping the business move forward in a way that holds up financially.

The scope of the role is also expanding. In my case, that includes ownership across quote-to-cash, pricing, and commissions, as well as regular interaction with customers and prospects. That proximity to the business changes how you approach decisions, because you see how those decisions show up operationally before they hit the financials. 

As models evolve and rules shift, more decisions require judgment. The CAO still owns the integrity of the financials, but the path to get there is not always straightforward.

Strategy, Responsibility and Trust Move Together

The CFO sets direction, but the CAO ensures the numbers behind those decisions are reliable. As finance becomes more embedded in decision-making, that responsibility becomes more visible. There is a tension between speed and certainty. The business wants quick answers, regularly shaped by more complex models and automated outputs. The CAO still needs clarity on how those numbers are produced, because if we can’t explain them, we shouldn’t rely on them. 

That dynamic is expanding the role within the organization’s system of trust. The CAO connects how data originates, moves and shows up in the financials. Expectations for explainable, trusted results now need to be met continuously, not just at period end. Numbers that look reasonable but can’t fully be explained introduce risk. If a number is used to make a decision or reported externally, we need to be able to stand behind it. Accountability doesn’t move. 

Talent and Judgment Matter More

Technical accounting expertise is essential, but it needs to be paired with a greater understanding of data, systems, and business operations. As automation increases, teams are expected to interpret outputs and apply judgment, especially when results appear reasonable but require deeper scrutiny.

That becomes even more important as AI gets embedded into accounting workflows. Outputs can look well reasoned, but still require context and judgment to validate. A purely audit-trained mindset on its own is no longer enough. That foundation still matters, but teams also need people who can think through how the business operates and how that translates into the numbers.

The CAO-FP&A Partnership is Also Changing

The expansion of the CAO role is also changing how it connects with FP&A. There’s still a perception that FP&A owns the plan while accounting owns the results, but that separation is becoming less useful. Decisions around pricing, deal structure, and commission all have direct implications on revenue, expense and cash flow. 

The CAO needs to consider how those decisions flow through the business and affect the plan. That requires closer alignment with FP&A and more continuous communication. The more those teams work together, the fewer surprises there are later. 

How I Think About Being a Better Partner to Our CFO

Given the need for finance to move faster and engage more directly with the business, here’s how I approach the partnership:

• Stay close to how the business operates: It’s not enough to understand the accounting outcome. You need to understand how pricing, deal structure, and sales decisions show up in the numbers, because that context shapes how you apply judgment.
• Focus on solving the problem: There are always constraints. The job is to work through them and help the business move forward in a way that holds up financially.
• Be comfortable applying judgment in complex situations: Models are evolving, AI adoption is increasing and guidance continues to shift. You still need to arrive at an answer you can stand behind.
• Make sure the foundation can support the pace: If finance is expected to move faster, the underlying systems and processes need to support that. Otherwise, you create more rework and more risk.

One thing that has changed for me is being more proactive with the business. Engaging earlier leads to better outcomes and fewer surprises later.

When the CFO and CAO are aligned, finance can act quickly and confidently. Misalignment shows up quickly, slowing decisions or surfacing issues later that need to be worked through. 

The CFO sets the pace, and the CAO determines whether that pace is sustainable.

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April 23,2026: AI in Quote-to-Cash. What Finance Leaders Need to Know

AI is starting to show up inside quote-to-cash in more tangible ways. The question now is not where it could work, but where it is actually delivering results.

Join us to hear where finance teams are seeing real impact, what foundations need to be in place before scaling, and how to modernize quote-to-cash without introducing more complexity.