AFP Survey: AI Priorities Rise Across Treasury Teams While AI-Related Challenges Grow

The 2026 AFP Treasury Benchmarking Survey finds that although AI has increased in importance, cash forecasting remains treasury's top priority and biggest challenge.

ROCKVILLE, Md., Sept. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Corporate treasury departments are expanding their focus on AI and automation initiatives while continuing to manage longstanding liquidity responsibilities, according to the 2026 AFP Treasury Benchmarking Survey Report, released by the Association for Financial Professionals and sponsored by PNC Bank.

Key takeaways

• AI enters top priorities alongside major challenges: AI/automation ranked among the top five treasury priorities (30%), putting it alongside core areas such as cash management and liquidity planning. At the same time, managing AI opportunities and risks (38%) and using AI to automate manual processes (35%) rank among treasury's most significant challenges.
• Cash forecasting remains the top priority and pain point: Despite years of technology investments, cash and liquidity forecasting remains the most challenging treasury activity (49%) and the top priority overall (63%).
• Soft skills remain widely used alongside technical skills: In addition to bank relationship management (86%) and cash forecasting (77%), treasury professionals rely heavily on communication (78%), collaboration (75%) and critical or strategic thinking (75%).
• Largest leadership capability gap centers on future planning: While 90% of respondents consider vision and future planning essential for treasury leaders, only 61% rate senior treasury professionals as effective in this area, creating the survey's largest leadership capability gap at 29 percentage points.

Why it matters
Treasury departments are managing an expanding mandate. Alongside longstanding responsibilities such as liquidity management and cash forecasting, teams are increasingly expected to support AI initiatives and provide strategic guidance. The survey findings suggest that technology investments alone are not enough; organizations also need the governance, leadership development and workforce capabilities to support these evolving responsibilities.

AI priorities rise alongside governance and capability challenges
AI and automation have become strategic priorities for treasury departments, particularly among larger organizations, but many organizations report gaps in policy effectiveness and AI-related knowledge that could affect broader adoption.

• Governance effectiveness gap: Traditional policy areas such as cash management (4.4 out of 5) and bank relationship management (4.3 out of 5) received high effectiveness scores, while AI and emerging technology policies received a score of 2.9 out of 5, the lowest among all policy areas measured.
• AI knowledge gap: Only 34% of respondents view themselves as effective in AI knowledge, compared with 50% who consider it important.

Key quotes
"Today's treasury teams are expected to support technology transformation, provide strategic insight and manage increasing complexity, often within lean organizational structures. The survey findings reinforce that navigating this expanding scope will rely on combining technical expertise with strong communication, collaboration and leadership capabilities," said Tom Hunt, CTP, Director of Treasury Practice at AFP.

"One of the most valuable aspects of this research is the opportunity to understand how treasury priorities are evolving across organizations," said Emma Loftus, head of Treasury Management, PNC Bank. "The future of treasury will be shaped not by technology alone, but by how effectively organizations bring together people, processes and innovation. Success requires strong governance, forward-looking leadership and teams equipped with both the technical and collaborative skills to turn change into meaningful business impact."

Survey methodology
The Association for Financial Professionals conducted the 2026 AFP Treasury Benchmarking Survey in May 2026. The survey received 425 responses from treasury practitioners. Survey respondents represented organizations of varying sizes, industries and ownership structures.

Download the survey report
Full survey findings are available in the 2026 AFP Treasury Benchmarking Survey Report.

FAQs
What is the most common operational challenge for treasury teams?
Cash and liquidity forecasting is the most challenging task for treasury teams, cited by 49% of respondents to the 2026 AFP Treasury Benchmarking Survey.

What skills are most widely used by treasury professionals?
Bank relationship management (86%), communication (78%) and cash forecasting (77%) are among the skills treasury professionals use most to support their organizations, according to the 2026 AFP Treasury Benchmarking Survey.

About AFP^®
The Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) is the leading professional society dedicated to helping financial professionals achieve their greatest career potential. Since 1979, AFP has been connecting financial professionals to the real-world expertise of their global peers, notably through the largest annual conference for treasury and corporate finance. As the certifying body for the Certified Treasury Professional (CTP®) and Certified Corporate FP&A Professional (FPAC®) credentials, AFP sets the standard of excellence in the profession. For more information, visit financialprofessionals.org.

Media contact
Joe Hodanich
Senior Director, Digital Strategy & Content
Association for Financial Professionals
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Association for Financial Professionals