Finance
Trusted By Industry Leaders
The questions you face
THE BRIEF
Pulled from our benchmark database, which grows every night. Every figure is published, dated, and sourced.
46.9% of enterprises ran over budget on AI
· The Futurum Group
46.9% of enterprises reported running over budget on AI, against 31.8% approximately in line with budget and only 5.6% below plan
Only 17.2% of over-budget organizations pause or reduce the AI initiative
· Techstrong.ai
Among enterprises over budget on AI, only 17.2% pause or reduce the AI initiative itself, while 48% request additional budget and 43% absorb the overrun and settle it later
61% cut external contractors and consultants to fund AI overruns
· Techstrong.ai
Organizations over budget on AI fund the gap by cutting elsewhere: 61% reduce external contractors and consultants, 60% cut IT support and helpdesk, 58% cut software and application development, and 23% reallocate from a non-IT business unit budget
US$795 billion of 2026 hyperscaler capex rising to nearly US$1.08 trillion in 2027
· Reuters (via Investing.com)
Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms and Oracle are expected to spend a combined US$795 billion on capital expenditure in 2026, rising to nearly US$1.08 trillion in 2027, against total AI spending of nearly US$800 billion in 2026
42% would expand existing AI workloads if token prices fell 25% or more
· CIO Dive
42% of surveyed executives said they would expand existing AI workloads if token prices fell 25% or more, while only about 10% of workloads need advanced frontier-level reasoning
More than 4 in 5 businesses report concerns about AI token usage and costs
· EY (via CIO Dive)
More than four in five businesses reported concerns about AI token usage and costs, while 37% still plan to expand the scope of their AI deployments
Your playbook
The CFO AI cost playbook
How to report what AI spend delivered each month, in a form the board will accept.
The 2-minute check
Ten questions. Every "I don't know" is a finding.
No email needed. The first five are written for your role. The last five are the same for everyone.
[ 1 ]
Is AI spend its own line in your monthly close, or buried in software and cloud?
[ 2 ]
Can you split last month’s AI spend by team or department?
[ 3 ]
Do you know your AI cost per customer for any product that uses AI?
[ 4 ]
Is AI spend in next year’s budget as a forecast, or as a guess?
[ 5 ]
Has anyone above you asked for an AI cost number yet?
[ 6 ]
Do you know what your AI features and tools cost last month, in dollars?
[ 7 ]
Have you had a surprise AI bill or usage spike in the last six months?
[ 8 ]
Does the AI spend number on your dashboard tie to your actual provider invoices?
[ 9 ]
If a team, an app or a customer account went over budget today, would anything alert you?
[ 10 ]
Is AI cost showing up in your board decks, security questionnaires or diligence requests yet?