The Complete Guide to Using AI as a Finance Professional in Raleigh in 2025

Raleigh finance teams can't afford to treat AI as a nice-to-have in 2025 - Gartner-backed reporting shows AI adoption is set to hit 90% across finance functions, turning routine bookkeeping into strategic forecasting and freeing staff to advise CFOs rather than reconcile ledgers (Triangle Business Journal report on AI adoption in finance (2025)).

At the same time, industry analysis warns that more than 85% of firms are already using AI for fraud detection, risk modeling and marketing, raising regulatory and governance stakes that local firms must address (RGP research: AI in Financial Services 2025).

For Raleigh professionals, that means learning practical prompts, secure workflows, and high-impact use cases - skills taught in Nucamp's AI Essentials for Work bootcamp to move teams from experimentation to measurable ROI (Nucamp AI Essentials for Work syllabus), so the region's finance talent can harness AI safely and strategically rather than be left behind.

For Raleigh finance teams in 2025 the future of AI is less about flashy pilots and more about embedding expert-driven models into everyday workflows to turn data into faster, actionable insight - exactly the trend AlphaSense highlights in its 2025 State of AI for Business and Finance (AlphaSense 2025 State of AI for Business and Finance report).

Local risk signals from NC State's ERM Initiative underline why that matters here: cyber threats, talent shortages, and the rapid speed of disruptive innovation top executive concern, meaning Raleigh firms must pair governance with upskilling rather than chasing features (NC State ERM Initiative report on top risks for 2025).

At the same time, infrastructure is the unsung limiter - Flexential's report shows C-suite confidence rising but warns that failure to plan data-center capacity 24 months ahead can lock an organization out of the compute resources needed to scale AI; in practical terms, a stalled infrastructure plan can turn an exciting pilot into a shelved project overnight (Flexential 2025 State of AI Infrastructure report).

For Raleigh CFOs and controllers, the takeaway is clear: prioritize workflow integration, tighten data controls, and invest in both people and infrastructure so AI delivers measurable ROI rather than just noise - imagine fewer monthly reconciliations and one vivid upside: minutes-to-decision on a suspected fraud alert instead of days of manual triage.

"The AI software development lifecycle needs to include Pendo for rapid iteration." - Pendo

Raleigh finance teams can turn AI from a buzzword into daily impact by focusing on practical use cases: automate reconciliations and AP workflows to free up analysts for insight work, layer AI into Excel-based forecasts and scenario stress tests so FP&A produces same‑day plans instead of week‑long churn, and deploy real‑time anomaly detection to flag fraud or transaction errors before they cascade.

Local training like NCACPA's Artificial Intelligence for Accounting & Financial Professional training and hands‑on workshops on AI agents show how to embed copilots into spreadsheet workflows, while AI financial modeling platforms and best practices (see AI financial modeling best practices) report up to an 80% reduction in data collection and validation time when teams use hybrid models and phased pilots.

Broader guides on AI forecasting and risk management outline the full spectrum - from credit scoring and portfolio optimization to underwriting and algorithmic trading - so Raleigh firms can pick high‑impact pilots that match data quality and compliance needs (AI financial modeling and forecasting guide), with the vivid upside of turning suspected fraud alerts into minutes‑to‑decision instead of days of manual triage.

“We wanted to know whether we could use machine learning to improve the Sharpe Ratio in order to get better information on what to buy, sell or keep in your portfolio to enhance your portfolio performance over periods of 6-12 months,” says Mehmet Caner.

Getting started with AI in Raleigh in 2025 is best done through short, practical steps that build confidence and compliance: begin with a focused CPE that demystifies AI's everyday tools - NCACPA Artificial Intelligence for Accounting & Financial Professionals course turns theory into hands‑on Excel and fraud‑detection workflows and even awards 4 CPE credits (rebroadcast fees: $160 members / $320 nonmembers) (NCACPA Artificial Intelligence for Accounting & Financial Professionals course); next, level up prompt and workflow skills in NC State's AI Prompt Engineering Masterclass (Sept.

10–Oct. 15, register by Aug. 29, $999) to write prompts that reliably extract clean forecasts and error checks from messy spreadsheets (NC State AI Prompt Engineering Masterclass registration).

For teams that need a credentialed, employer‑backed pathway, NC State's AI Academy offers year‑long credential routes with employer mentorship and on‑the‑job training (courses priced at $1,750 each), ideal for embedding AI skills into job roles.

Pair these courses with a small pilot - pick one concrete problem like AP automation or anomaly detection, protect sensitive data from day one, and measure time saved - so Raleigh finance pros move from curiosity to repeatable impact without risking compliance or morale.

Picking the right AI toolkit in Raleigh means matching scale, compliance, and Excel-first workflows: for enterprise-grade fraud, risk and domain-driven models consider SAS Viya - enterprise data and AI for fraud and risk to keep detection aligned with governance; for everyday spreadsheet work, Microsoft 365 Copilot in Excel - AI for data cleaning and advanced formula generation automates data cleaning, suggests complex formulas and generates polished reports so analysts spend less time fixing tables and more time interpreting results; and for fast financial-model updates that meaningfully cut earnings‑season grunt work, Daloopa - AI financial modeling Excel add-in for verified fundamental data pushes verified fundamental data straight into models - many datapoints appear within minutes and full updates within 90 minutes, cutting hours of manual refresh into a single click.

Combine these with RPA tools for invoice and AP automation and a visual collaboration layer for cross‑team signoffs, and Raleigh teams get a practical, compliance‑minded stack that turns recurring busywork into insight-ready outputs.

"I can't imagine our investment process without Daloopa, it's fundamentally changed our lives for the better in allowing us to scale our team's effort and time" - Andy Lee, Managing Partner, Parallaxes Capital

Building responsible, secure AI workflows in Raleigh means turning high-level principles into day-to-day rules that protect data and keep finance teams out of regulatory trouble: adopt North Carolina's Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence Framework so “privacy is embedded into the design” and use the Office of Privacy and Data Protection's AI/GenAI questionnaire during early project reviews to control who can access sensitive payroll, vendor or customer records (NCDIT: Privacy's Role in AI Governance - North Carolina AI guidance for privacy and governance).

Backed by a new state AI governance lead, local firms should pair those checks with active security validation - SANS' Raleigh session on AI-driven pentesting highlights how machine learning can surface vulnerabilities in real time, turning post‑mortems into proactive fixes (SANS Raleigh 2025 AI-Driven Pentesting Webcast - AI security and pentesting insights).

Aligning these local steps with national guidance that emphasizes governance and risk management helps finance teams choose vendors, document data flows, and run small, auditable pilots that reduce compliance risk while accelerating value.

“He will ensure the ethical, transparent, and accountable integration of AI technologies into public services to support innovation while managing associated risks.”

For Raleigh finance professionals who want credentials and hands‑on skills that pay off immediately, NC State's offerings make a practical starting point: the six‑week, evening AI Prompt Engineering masterclass (Sept.

10–Oct. 15) teaches prompt design, CustomGPT creation, data summarization, and ethical best practices in synchronous Zoom sessions - no coding required and spaces are limited, so register by Aug.

29 to secure a seat (NC State AI Prompt Engineering course details and registration).

Taught by experienced practitioners and designed for working schedules, the program awards an NC State certificate and lists clear system and tool requirements (ChatGPT Plus recommended), while NC State's broader Continuing and Lifelong Education AI offerings - including tailored Microsoft Copilot training for teams - provide follow‑on certificates and employer‑focused pathways to embed AI into finance workflows (NC State Continuing & Lifelong Education artificial intelligence programs and corporate training).

One vivid upside: a six‑week evening commitment can convert spreadsheet drudgery into reliable AI‑assisted summaries and decision support that finance leaders can point to on a resume.

Raleigh finance teams looking for local, proven AI and analytics playbooks can point to a homegrown success story: Pendo, founded in Raleigh in 2013, combines product analytics, in‑app guides and Pendo AI to cut onboarding time, surface actionable insights, and free employees for higher‑value work - benefits made concrete in a Forrester‑commissioned TEI showing a 396% ROI and $3.81M in three‑year benefits (including roughly 94,500 employee hours recovered) when customers improved workplace software experiences; the platform's partnership with Google Cloud and Looker also illustrates how centralizing data can shrink manual reporting and speed decision‑making for teams (Pendo Forrester TEI study showing 396% ROI, Pendo and Looker Google Cloud case study on centralized analytics).

For Raleigh organizations that must balance compliance, speed, and headcount, that means tangible pilots - embed Pendo analytics into an FP&A dashboard or use in‑app guides to raise feature adoption - and a vivid upside: reclaiming nearly 100,000 hours that finance teams can redirect from repetitive training to strategic analysis, while the company's local expansion (including state and local incentives tied to a major headquarters build-out) underscores the ecosystem of talent and tools available right here in North Carolina.

“Today's companies run on software, but too much of it is difficult for employees to use.” - Todd Olson, Pendo CEO and co‑founder

Measuring ROI and scaling AI projects in Raleigh finance teams starts with the basics: a clear baseline, a tight use‑case focus, and a staged scaling plan that BCG says separates high‑ROI teams - focus on value, embed GenAI into transformation, collaborate across functions, and “scale in sequence” (BCG report: How Finance Leaders Can Get ROI from AI).

Track metrics that tie directly to the P&L (reduced labor cost, cycle‑time acceleration, error rates, and risk avoidance) alongside adoption and satisfaction signals so pilots show trending benefits before they're counted as hard dollars; Data Society and Red Pill Labs recommend treating training and productivity gains as a 12–24 month play while using monthly checkpoints to avoid vanity metrics.

Instrument agentic workflows with AI‑agent analytics - Pendo's agent analytics highlights conversion, task completion, retention and prompt volume as concrete signals finance teams can use to attribute value and to spot compliance risks early (Pendo guide to AI agent analytics for finance teams).

Local survey evidence is mixed but instructive: some firms report meaningful returns while others stall, so prioritize AP/AR automation, forecasting, and fraud detection pilots (areas cited for highest ROI in recent surveys) and require vendors to translate accuracy claims into dollars and reduced risk before you expand (Emburse AI‑Powered Finance survey results and findings).

The smartest path in Raleigh is incremental: prove time saved and errors avoided, convert trending wins into 6–24 month hard ROI, then scale the stack with governance baked in so AI becomes a durable finance capability rather than a one‑off experiment.

“The return on investment for data and AI training programs is ultimately measured via productivity. You typically need a full year of data to determine effectiveness, and the real ROI can be measured over 12 to 24 months.” - Dmitri Adler, Data Society

Next steps for Raleigh finance professionals in 2025 are straightforward: pick one high‑impact pilot, protect data from day one, and pair hands‑on training with measurable outcomes so AI becomes a reliable tool rather than noise.

Start small - an AP automation or anomaly‑detection pilot that shortens review cycles - and use local learning pathways like the NCACPA's practical CPE on AI for accounting and finance (NCACPA AI for Accounting & Financial Professionals CPE) or Nucamp's AI Essentials for Work syllabus to build prompts, secure workflows, and job‑ready skills (Nucamp AI Essentials for Work syllabus (AI Essentials for Work bootcamp)).

Watch public sector pilots for signals - North Carolina's 12‑week DST/OpenAI collaboration that surfaced millions in potential unclaimed property shows how practical, audited pilots can deliver real dollars back to the state (North Carolina DST/OpenAI pilot summary from the State Treasurer).

Pair training with simple ROI metrics (time saved, error rates, P&L impact), iterate using predictive project tools for real‑time tracking, and use local meetups or vendor demos to vet solutions - this sequence turns curiosity into durable capability and keeps Raleigh finance teams compliant, confident, and faster at decision‑making.

“Our team set out to find out how we could modernize our department, while still providing top notch service to folks across the state… As this pilot program wraps up, we are thrilled to say our divisions were able to take that publicly available information and utilize ChatGPT in ways that resulted in tangible and measurable improvements to their daily workflow.” - State Treasurer Brad Briner