The Lean Ledger: AI, Fractional Finance & Tax Tech

Finance leaders face three intertwined priorities: using AI to elevate accounting productivity, tapping fractional finance to boost hospitality performance, and modernizing tax technology to meet ASU 2023-09’s disclosure demands. This article connects the dots so you can align investments, talent, and controls across your finance stack.

The Transformative Impact of AI and Automation in Accounting

AI and automation are moving routine work—data entry, invoice processing, bank reconciliation, and payroll—out of spreadsheets and into systems, freeing accountants to focus on advisory and analysis. Source

Firms report fewer errors, faster closes, and more timely insights as AI augments reconciliations, variance reviews, and forecasting—capabilities that are increasingly expected by clients and business stakeholders. Source AI-enabled dashboards and predictive analytics are helping practices shift from historical reporting to forward-looking decision support. Source

The strategic impact is clear: 93% of professionals say they now leverage AI to deliver advisory services, while 98% emphasize standardized, integrated tech stacks to scale quality and onboarding. Source Budgets are following suit, with average planned investments of about $20,000, and daily use climbing—95% using automation and 46% using AI every day—driving new hiring profiles that blend accounting and tech skills. Source

The Rise of Fractional Finance in Hospitality

Hotels and restaurants grapple with seasonal revenue, capital-intensive operations, and tight margins—yet many can’t justify a full-time CFO. Fractional finance solves this by providing executive-level expertise on a part-time or project basis, aligning cost with need. Source

Typical savings range from 40–60% versus a full-time CFO, often reducing annual spend by $150,000–$250,000 for properties with roughly $5M–$50M in revenue, while allowing flexible engagement models (retainer or project-based) that scale with seasonal demand. Source

Beyond bookkeeping, fractional teams implement robust forecasting, revenue management, departmental cost analysis, and capex planning—capabilities that can lift profitability by 10–15% in the first year and streamline labor, cash flow, and maintenance strategies. Source Source Source

Who benefits most? Boutique hotels seeking cash-flow visibility, regional chains needing scalable leadership, and restaurants preparing for expansion—all while gaining access to lender networks, investor contacts, and benchmarking. Source

Tax Tech Solutions for ASU 2023-09 Compliance

ASU 2023-09 raises the bar for income tax disclosure detail, pushing public companies to enhance tax provision processes and tooling. Guidance from tax technology providers outlines how to automate new requirements and reduce manual effort. Source Source

Modern provision platforms automate the rate reconciliation by disaggregating into the eight required categories with percentage and dollar disclosures, including thresholds for reconciling items—features now available in solutions like Bloomberg Tax Provision. Source Source

Centralized data hubs pull filings and payments across entities and jurisdictions to ease disclosure of taxes paid by jurisdiction and improve real-time visibility. Source

To validate and analyze effective tax rate drivers, tax teams are pairing provision outputs with self-service dashboards (for example, GTM’s ETR workbook with Power BI). Source

Workflow improvements—such as updated auditor reports and dedicated reconciliation tabs—create clearer audit trails and reduce manual preparation. Source

Next steps: assess your ability to capture taxes paid by jurisdiction, identify data gaps, and upgrade provision tools if you still rely on spreadsheets; align tax, finance, and IT around data flows and reporting calendars. Source

Sources

• Accounting Today – Bloomberg T&A adds feature for ASU 2023-09 compliance
• Bloomberg Tax – Are You Ready to Comply with ASU 2023-09?
• Bloomberg Tax – Technology Solutions for FASB ASU 2023-09 Compliance
• CFO Advisors – Who’s the Best Fractional CFO for Boutique Hotels in 2025?
• CPA Practice Advisor – How AI and Automation Are Redefining Accounting in 2025
• Exactera – What Income Tax Disclosures Under ASU 2023-09 Mean for Your Income Tax Provision
• GetExact – Fractional CFO for Hotels
• GTM Tax – Webinar Recap: How to Prepare for New Income Tax Disclosures and Other Changes Under ASU 2023-09
• Madras Accountancy – Hospitality CFO Services for Hotels
• NJCPA – How AI and Emerging Technologies Are Transforming the Accounting Profession

Taken together, these trends point to a leaner, smarter finance function: automate aggressively to unlock advisory capacity, deploy fractional expertise where full-time leadership isn’t economical, and harden tax processes with purpose-built tools. Over the next quarter, prioritize a tech stack review, a talent and sourcing plan (including fractional options), and an ASU 2023-09 readiness assessment to turn compliance and efficiency into competitive advantage.