AI in finance

    AI amplifies whatever foundation you give it.

    I lead finance transformation, and I build and run AI systems myself. The order never changes: reconciled data, a written process and working controls first. Then AI takes on more of the work, with a person checking it.

    Foundation first

    Automate a broken process and you get bad results faster. Before any model or agent goes live, the data is reconciled, the process is documented and the controls are in place. Without governance, AI is a liability, not an asset.

    AI is a new joiner

    Every organisation sits at a different level of maturity. Like any new joiner, AI needs onboarding into the team’s ways of working before it is trusted with real decisions. What closes the gap between the slides and the result is deployment discipline. That is where I work.

    In practice

    2023 – 2025

    Inside an audited finance function

    I designed the processes, the controls and the plan. AI produced the code that shaped the information the way I needed it: VBA and Power Query tools, policy drafts, a fixed-asset review and audit remediation. Every output was reviewed by a person for correctness and simplicity before use, and checked again after any change to a formula or code. Left alone, AI over-engineers. That is why the design stays with people.

    Since 2025

    Systems I build and run

    Multi-agent systems with human checkpoints and audit trails, on local models and PostgreSQL, used for reconciliation, accounts-payable triage and variance commentary. Running them daily showed me where AI fails quietly: one batch received 80 of 100 records and still reported 96% coverage. The fixes are finance habits. Count what came back against what was asked, judge output by its content rather than its status, and give every record a date.

    Case study

    Directing five models to a reference article

    The AGI Bulletin at Global Future Nexus was not a prompt and a result. It took several versions, five models and a person deciding at every round.

    Global Future Nexus · Olivier Jobert, with Claude, DeepSeek and QwenThe moving goalpost: who gets to define AGI

    The piece is now the reference standard for new articles in the Bulletin.

    Same rule as in finance: no model signs off its own work.

    1. 01

      Versions 1 to 3

      DeepSeek and Grok drafted and reviewed. On Arena, a platform for testing models, the Max setting picked the strongest model for each request to draft the prompt and review the output. Grok was dropped at version 3.

    2. 02

      Rewrite

      After Arena’s final review, I worked with Claude and agents on a near-full rewrite with stronger sourcing.

    3. 03

      Challenge

      DeepSeek and Qwen reviewed the result for a last round of criticism. I then changed the order of the sections.

    Silent failures, in 90 seconds

    Explainer made with NotebookLM from my own notes.

    What I deliver

    Getting a finance function ready for AI

    1. 01

      Reconcile before you automate

      No number ships until it agrees with a second source. Missing reconciliation is the most common cause of failure on large projects.

    2. 02

      Write the process down

      A documented process and a timetable come before any tool. A model cannot follow a process that only lives in people’s heads.

    3. 03

      Put a person at every checkpoint

      Human review at the points that matter, with an audit trail behind each one, and SOX-equivalent controls.

    4. 04

      Onboard AI like a new joiner

      Like any new joiner, AI has to absorb the team’s ways of working before it is trusted with real decisions.

    5. 05

      Watch for silent failure

      Count inputs against outputs, read the content and not just the status, and date every record so stale data cannot pass as current.

    Latest writing

    All writing

    Watch the full version (8 min)

    The longer walk-through of the same story, for anyone who wants the detail.

    Made with NotebookLM from my own notes.

    Contact

    If a finance function needs rebuilding, I'd like to hear about it

    Permanent leadership, interim cover, or a defined delivery mandate — the first conversation is the same either way. Tell me what is not working.

    ojobert@duck.comConnect on LinkedIn

    Asia-Pacific — available across the region and open to relocation