{"slug": "trust-not-budget-why-ai-adoption-in-finance-comes-down-to-governance", "title": "Trust, not budget: Why AI adoption in finance comes down to governance", "summary": "Accel Entertainment Inc. chief accounting officer Christie Kozlik said governance, not budget, is the gating factor for AI adoption in corporate finance, speaking at Workiva's Amplify 2026 event during a theCUBE broadcast. Kozlik, whose company operates 29,000 slot machines in 4,700 locations across 10 states, said every AI process needs a defined input, expected output and documented review, with internal and external auditors involved early, and she measures ROI against targets such as cutting the financial close from seven days to five. Workiva has tracked the trust gap in its midyear executive benchmark survey.", "body_md": "### Trust, not budget: Why AI adoption in finance comes down to governance\n\nAI is spreading across corporate finance from the inside out, coming from the software, reporting platforms and the ERP systems that accounting teams already run. That makes [governance, not budget](https://siliconangle.com/2026/09/05/workiva-agentic-ai-governance-amplify/), the gating factor on how fast teams can move.\n\nIn regulated industries the calculation is sharper, because every number eventually lands in a filing that shareholders and regulators read. That means that enthusiasm for new tools has to be matched by a plan for checking what they produce, according to [Christie Kozlik](https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiekozlik/) (pictured), chief accounting officer at Accel Entertainment Inc., a distributed gaming company.\n\n“It’s one thing to turn on Claude. It’s another thing to use it smart,” Kozlik said. “It’s another thing to actually get the output from it that you really want.”\n\nKozlik spoke with theCUBE’s [Krista Case](https://www.linkedin.com/in/krista-case/) and co-host [Alison Kosik](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-kosik-cfei-13579215/) at [Amplify](https://www.thecube.net/events/workiva/workiva-amplify-2026), during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed building trust in AI outputs and finding real return on investment in finance and accounting. *(* Disclosure below.)*\n\n### Trust and governance steer AI toward ERP systems\n\nAccel operates 29,000 slot machines in 4,700 locations across 10 states, with data arriving from dozens of source systems, Kozlik noted. The obstacle in finance is less cost than trust, since a model answers in microseconds and sounds equally certain whether it is right or wrong — a gap Workiva Inc. has tracked in its [midyear executive benchmark survey](https://www.workiva.com/resources/executive-benchmark-survey-verification-gap).\n\n“Reading the body language – hearing how you’re saying something – can go a long way in knowing if that output is correct or not correct,” she said. “When you’re talking about AI, you don’t get that. You get the absolute confidence.”\n\nIn response, the discipline required is deliberately old-fashioned. Every process gets a defined input, an expected output and a documented review, with internal and external auditors brought to the table early rather than after the fact.\n\n“What is the input that I am feeding into this AI? What is the output that I’m expecting? What is the root cause that I’m trying to solve for?” Kozlik said. “Knowing those inputs, outputs and expectations becomes so important.”\n\nROI gets the same treatment, measured against a metric such as cutting the financial close from seven days to five. Her near-term targets are Securities and Exchange Commission reporting and the company’s ERP systems buildout, both heavily audited areas where her team knows where the data comes from.\n\n“When I keep saying data governance, it’s probably more risk rating that data,” Kozlik said. “If you look at anybody’s [10-K] or [10-Q], rate each footnote. Could this one be AI bot-ready? Yes, no, one, two, three – and then talk through each one of them. Put a game plan together for each one of them.”\n\nHere’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of [Amplify](https://www.thecube.net/events/workiva/workiva-amplify-2026):\n\n*(* Disclosure: Workiva sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Workiva nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)*\n\n##### Photo: SiliconANGLE\n\n# A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:\n\nSupport our mission to keep content open and free by engaging with theCUBE community. **Join theCUBE’s Alumni Trust Network**, where technology leaders connect, share intelligence and create opportunities.\n\n- **15M+ viewers of theCUBE videos** , powering conversations across AI, cloud, cybersecurity and more\n- **11.4k+ theCUBE alumni** — Connect with more than 11,400 tech and business leaders shaping the future through a unique trusted-based network\n\n### Are you an AWS customer?  Support SiliconANGLE financially by buying your AWS services from our Marketplace portal page and links: [https://siliconangle.com/aws-marketplace/](https://siliconangle.com/aws-marketplace/)\n\n##### **About SiliconANGLE Media**\n\n[SiliconANGLE](https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsiliconangle.com%2F&esheet=54119777&newsitemid=20240910506833&lan=en-US&anchor=SiliconANGLE&index=9&md5=646b1b564e2259100a2b8638aab0a552),\n\n[theCUBE Network](https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thecube.net%2F&esheet=54119777&newsitemid=20240910506833&lan=en-US&anchor=theCUBE+Network&index=10&md5=7de2a85f95ab4a4a495cede20b8cb1da),\n\n[theCUBE Research](https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fthecuberesearch.com%2F&esheet=54119777&newsitemid=20240910506833&lan=en-US&anchor=theCUBE+Research&index=11&md5=7bb33676722925eb57d588ec343e4f6f),\n\n[CUBE365](https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cube365.net%2F&esheet=54119777&newsitemid=20240910506833&lan=en-US&anchor=CUBE365&index=12&md5=d310fb35919714e66ad8d42c9c0c1bc6),\n\n[theCUBE AI](https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thecubeai.com%2F&esheet=54119777&newsitemid=20240910506833&lan=en-US&anchor=theCUBE+AI&index=13&md5=b8b98472f8071b23ebb10ab9a8dd0683)and theCUBE SuperStudios — with flagship locations in Silicon Valley and the New York Stock Exchange — SiliconANGLE Media operates at the intersection of media, technology and AI.\n\nFounded by tech visionaries John Furrier and Dave Vellante, SiliconANGLE Media has built a dynamic ecosystem of industry-leading digital media brands that reach 15+ million elite tech professionals. Our new proprietary theCUBE AI Video Cloud is breaking ground in audience interaction, leveraging theCUBEai.com neural network to help technology companies make data-driven decisions and stay at the forefront of industry conversations.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/trust-not-budget-why-ai-adoption-in-finance-comes-down-to-governance", "canonical_source": "https://siliconangle.com/2026/09/17/erp-systems-become-safe-starting-point-ai-finance-amplify/", "published_at": "2026-09-17 16:03:53+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-17 16:24:22.971318+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy", "ai-ethics", "artificial-intelligence"], "entities": ["Accel Entertainment Inc.", "Christie Kozlik", "Workiva Inc.", "theCUBE", "SiliconANGLE", "Krista Case", "Alison Kosik", "Amplify 2026"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/trust-not-budget-why-ai-adoption-in-finance-comes-down-to-governance", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/trust-not-budget-why-ai-adoption-in-finance-comes-down-to-governance.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/trust-not-budget-why-ai-adoption-in-finance-comes-down-to-governance.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/trust-not-budget-why-ai-adoption-in-finance-comes-down-to-governance.jsonld"}}