Matthias Steinberg recently expanded his role at MindBridge to serve as both COO and CFO, formalizing responsibilities that had already moved well beyond traditional finance.
MindBridge provides AI-powered financial oversight designed to help organizations analyze financial data and identify unusual activity. Steinberg joined the company after serving as European CFO of a private equity-backed web-hosting provider, where he helped prepare the business for an initial public offering.
His combined role places him at the intersection of financial controls, operational execution, and AI adoption. As companies automate more processes, Steinberg believes finance leaders must help their organizations move faster without compromising the integrity of their financial data.
During our conversation, he explained why governance may determine how successfully companies adopt AI, when automation will face its real test in finance, and why CFOs are evolving from scorekeepers into what he calls “value architects.”
Many companies are adopting AI quickly. Do you think governance and oversight are keeping pace, or is there a growing gap between execution and accountability?
Finance leaders want to understand how to adopt AI, but one of the biggest questions slowing them down is how to use it safely.
Governance will be one of the decisive factors determining how successfully AI is adopted across an enterprise.
We are still in the early stages of using AI in finance. Many companies began by experimenting with Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT, or Claude, often for text-based tasks. The real moment of truth will come when AI begins touching the ledgers.
I recently participated in a roundtable with 20 CFOs. When they were asked whether anyone was allowing AI to touch their ledgers, the answer was a unanimous no.
That will be a major step for the finance profession. It will require stronger governance, safety, and assurance around financial data processed by AI.
As AI becomes more embedded in business operations, how is the CFO’s role changing?
This change began before AI, but AI is accelerating it.
CFOs were once viewed primarily as scorekeepers. They later became co-pilots to the CEO. Now, I believe they need to become what we call value architects.
That means becoming more involved in helping the company grow, increase profitability, and improve its key performance indicators. Modern CFOs need a strong understanding of how different functions and departments operate across the business.
CFOs also own much of the company’s data and are often responsible for digital transformation, with some CIOs now reporting to them. Their area of influence has expanded, but so has the expectation that they will proactively help position the company for success.
Is today’s CFO becoming less of a scorekeeper and more of a steward of enterprise risk?
Yes. Risk management is one of the areas where I was already spending significant time before formally taking on the COO role.
The CFO is not simply responsible for allocating capital and resources. The role also requires following those investments through to determine whether they are delivering the expected results.
That means working across the organization, helping colleagues solve problems, and continuously adjusting how the company reaches its goals.
AI governance, AI risk management, and change management are now central parts of that responsibility. In many cases, managing the change and its risks may be more important than simply learning how to implement the technology.
When decisions are supported by algorithms and automation, where should human accountability sit?
Accountability ultimately remains at the top with the CFO and senior management.
As AI becomes more deeply integrated into finance operations, leaders will need technology that helps them meet that responsibility. AI may create new risks, but it can also provide greater assurance.
As companies move from human oversight toward automated processes and AI agents that have more autonomy, they will need another technology layer that monitors those activities.
At MindBridge, we believe AI-powered financial oversight can help the CFO remain confident in the integrity of the company’s financial data. Automation may support the process, but it does not remove the leader’s accountability.
What skills will finance leaders need over the next five years?
Finance knowledge will remain essential, but it is only the minimum requirement. I believe three additional skills will distinguish the most successful CFOs.
The first is business understanding. The better you understand how marketing, customer service, research and development, and other departments operate, the better positioned you are to support them and solve problems.
The second is AI literacy. There is no way around it. The more comfortable CFOs become with AI, the better equipped they will be to manage the changes it creates.
The third is change management. The way finance teams work will change significantly. Some roles will evolve, and some may disappear. Leaders will need to manage the human side of that transition because change can be difficult and frightening.
Finance has an opportunity to become more influential, but achieving that will require leaders who can guide their teams through change.
What is the biggest challenge facing finance leaders as they balance innovation, efficiency, and risk?
The biggest challenge is recognizing that there are risks on both sides.
There are risks associated with adopting AI, but there is also a real business risk if a company falls behind. Competitors are using AI to develop products and work faster, while some customers may decide they can build solutions themselves.
The underlying competition has not changed. Companies still need to provide better solutions at a competitive price. What has changed is the speed and the technology available.
Finance leaders therefore need to understand AI and learn how to use it while also managing its risks. That tension is particularly difficult because large language models can produce different answers when asked the same question more than once.
Finance requires consistent and repeatable results. Leaders must find ways to capture AI’s benefits without weakening the integrity of their financial information.
What is the best piece of business advice you have received?
The most valuable lesson came from observing a successful entrepreneur I worked with. He was an exceptional and creative problem-solver.
I learned to focus on what is within my control, break a problem into smaller pieces, and address those pieces one at a time.
It sounds simple, but it can be difficult to put into practice. Once it becomes a habit, it makes it easier to approach difficult problems calmly.
That lesson applies directly to AI. Finance leaders do not need to solve every question about AI at once. They can begin by testing contained use cases where the risks are manageable.
Teams can learn how to use AI for reconciliations, coding ledger entries, or reviewing expense reports. These steps may not represent a complete transformation, but they allow the organization to learn and adapt without becoming overwhelmed.
What is currently inspiring you, and why? AI motivates me much more than it frightens me.
AI motivates me much more than it frightens me.
Perhaps one day out of five, I think critically about its risks and how we will manage them. The other four days, I am excited about what is happening.
Humans have an innate drive to push boundaries, learn, and evolve. AI is advancing at a speed and with a level of potential that I have not seen before in my lifetime.
I find it inspiring to explore how we can use this technology to do better work for our teams, customers, shareholders, and other stakeholders. That motivates me every day.
Matthias Steinberg recently expanded his role at MindBridge to serve as both COO and CFO, formalizing responsibilities that had already moved well beyond traditional finance.
MindBridge provides AI-powered financial oversight designed to help organizations analyze financial data and identify unusual activity. Steinberg joined the company after serving as European CFO of a private equity-backed web-hosting provider, where he helped prepare the business for an initial public offering.
His combined role places him at the intersection of financial controls, operational execution, and AI adoption. As companies automate more processes, Steinberg believes finance leaders must help their organizations move faster without compromising the integrity of their financial data.
During our conversation, he explained why governance may determine how successfully companies adopt AI, when automation will face its real test in finance, and why CFOs are evolving from scorekeepers into what he calls “value architects.”
