Open Future Forum released the first edition of the CFO AI Leverage Report this week. The report's formal name is the Enterprise AI Buying & Budget Index, and Edition 1 is now live.

I built this report because the same question kept coming up at CFO Executive Forum dinners. Finance leaders wanted to know how their peers were setting AI budgets, who actually signs off on AI purchases, and how to measure AI ROI once a tool is live. Nobody had good data. So Open Future Forum went and got some.

What the Report Covers

The Enterprise AI Buying & Budget Index tracks how enterprise finance teams are approaching AI spend in 2026. It looks at three things.

One. How companies are structuring their AI budgets this year, and whether that spend sits inside IT, inside individual departments, or inside a dedicated AI line item.

Two. Who has final sign-off on AI purchases. In most of the organizations we surveyed, that answer increasingly points back to the CFO's office, not just the CIO's.

Three. How finance teams are measuring AI ROI once a tool moves past the pilot stage, and what separates the deployments that get renewed from the ones that get quietly shut off.

Why CFOs Are in the Room Now

For years, AI purchasing sat with IT and with individual business units. That is changing. AI budgets have grown large enough that finance now wants a formal review step before anything gets signed. CFOs are being asked to own AI ROI the same way they own ROI on any other capital investment, with real numbers and a real payback period.

That shift is exactly what the CFO Executive Forum was built to track. The Forum is co-chaired by Christina Bui, with Louis Lehot and Ellie Yashiro on the board. Every dinner conversation we have had this year points to the same pattern. Finance sign-off is no longer a formality at the end of an AI purchase. It is the gate that decides whether the purchase happens at all.

How the Data Was Built

The Enterprise AI Buying & Budget Index draws on direct conversations inside Open Future Forum, a private executive community founded in 2019 with 100 events to date. Open Future Forum runs two formats. Forum Select is our invite-only series of C-suite dinners. Forum Events are our open gatherings, including panels, where a broader group of operators and finance leaders can take part.

The CFO AI Leverage Report pulls from both formats. It is not a survey pushed out cold. It is a synthesis of what finance leaders are actually telling each other in the room, checked against the numbers they are willing to share.

A Few Numbers from Edition 1

The report leads with its flagship metric, the CFO AI Leverage Index. That is the share of finance leaders who say AI now lets them grow output without growing the team. A few other numbers stood out.

Enterprise generative AI spend hit $37 billion in 2025, more than three times the year before. The share of that spend funded from experimental innovation budgets fell from 25 percent to 7 percent in a single year, which tracks with what we hear at CFO Executive Forum dinners. AI budgets are moving out of pilot money and into core lines.

In our own early read, taken from a small group of finance leaders at one CFO event, three in five pointed to the CFO or finance, not the CEO or IT, as the seat that gives final sign-off on AI purchases. That is a directional read on a small base, not a settled number, and the report says so plainly.

One more data point worth flagging. Among the AI founders Open Future Forum surveyed, not one named finance as their buyer today. Most still sell to IT and business units. But roughly seven in ten of those charging for their product already price on usage or outcomes rather than per seat, which is usually the pricing model that eventually pulls finance into the room.

What Comes Next

This is Edition 1. Open Future Forum will publish updated editions of the Enterprise AI Buying & Budget Index as AI budgets and finance sign-off practices keep shifting. If you are a CFO and want a seat at the next CFO Executive Forum dinner, reach out through Open Future Forum. If you want to compare notes on how your own AI ROI numbers stack up against the Index, get in touch directly.

Read the full CFO AI Leverage Report →

FAQ

What is the CFO AI Leverage Report?
The CFO AI Leverage Report is Open Future Forum's research publication on how enterprise finance teams manage AI spend. Edition 1 launched in 2026 and centers on the Enterprise AI Buying & Budget Index.
What is the Enterprise AI Buying & Budget Index?
The Enterprise AI Buying & Budget Index is the core data set inside the CFO AI Leverage Report. It measures how companies structure AI budgets, who holds purchase authority, and how finance teams track AI ROI after deployment.
Who approves enterprise AI purchases?
Approval increasingly runs through the CFO's office. As AI budgets grow, finance sign-off has become a required step before an AI purchase closes, not just a formality once IT and the business unit agree.
Why are CFOs becoming responsible for AI ROI?
AI spend has reached a scale that finance treats like any other capital investment. CFOs are now expected to show a real payback period on AI ROI, which pulls purchasing decisions and ongoing budget reviews into the CFO's remit.
What is the CFO Executive Forum?
The CFO Executive Forum is a track within Open Future Forum focused on finance leaders. It is co-chaired by Christina Bui, with Louis Lehot and Ellie Yashiro on the board, and it is where much of the research behind the CFO AI Leverage Report originated.