2026 FP&A Report Reveals Record Tech Spend Yet 100% Spreadsheet Dependency

Limelight Software, the cloud FP&A platform used by finance teams at TED, Conservation International, and other organizations, today released its 2026 FP&A Statistics Report, pulling together more than 50 benchmarks on how finance teams are operating, investing, and adapting this year. The data reveals a finance function caught between rising technology investment and the legacy workflows still slowing it down.

Key findings include that 77% of CFOs and senior finance leaders plan to increase FP&A technology spending in 2025, with 47% expecting a 10%+ increase versus 2024, according to Gartner. The FP&A software market is projected to grow from $3.9 billion in 2023 to $9.7 billion by 2031. AI adoption is set to more than double inside 12 months: 28% of finance departments currently use AI in forecasting, and another 39% plan to adopt it within the next year (PwC). The AI in FP&A market alone is projected to grow at a 34.8% CAGR through 2034.

Despite this, nearly 100% of FP&A professionals still use spreadsheets for monthly planning and reporting (AFP). Over half of FP&A teams now manage 8+ data categories and 10+ reporting tools each quarter. Forecast accuracy remains the top cost-control obstacle: 61% of CFOs say inaccurate forecasting is the single biggest barrier to controlling costs (SAP Concur). 82% of companies make decisions based on stale information, and 85% say outdated data leads directly to lost revenue.

Transformation programs are stalling: 69% of finance transformation initiatives are progressing slower than planned, and 30% fail to hit their goals outright (Gartner), most often due to poor change management. The CFO role keeps expanding: 82% of CFOs say their remit has grown significantly over the past five years (Egon Zehnder), 81% now see themselves as the primary drivers of business growth, and 50% are planning a finance restructure.

AI is reshaping forecasting first: 66% of finance leaders say generative AI will have the biggest immediate impact on explaining forecast and budget variances (Gartner), and 55% of retail and CPG finance leaders are already using Gen AI in their forecasting workflows.

"Finance leaders in 2026 are being pulled in two directions," said Rosie Shea, BDM at Limelight Software. "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."

The full report is available at the Limelight website. The report pulls together benchmarks from Gartner, PwC, KPMG, McKinsey, Deloitte, AFP, Workday, IBM, Egon Zehnder, AICPA & CIMA, Protiviti, SAP Concur, MGI Research, APQC, Verified Market Research, The CFO Alliance, and others.