CFO AI Governance Framework

Start with the decision, not the model

Define the business decision, accountable executive, affected workflow, financial exposure, and evidence required before evaluating a model or vendor.

• Named business owner
• Documented decision or workflow
• Expected financial outcome
• Failure and escalation thresholds

Create an AI investment register

Maintain one finance-visible register of material AI initiatives. Record cost, owner, data used, deployment status, controls, expected benefit, and review date.

• Acquisition and operating cost
• Benefit hypothesis and measurement method
• Data and third-party dependencies
• Human-review requirements
• Retirement criteria

Separate approval from assurance

The executive sponsoring an AI initiative should not be the only person assessing its evidence. Finance, security, legal, risk, and the operating owner should have explicit review responsibilities.

• Business approval
• Technical validation
• Security and privacy review
• Financial validation
• Post-deployment monitoring

Report outcomes and exceptions

Board reporting should distinguish pilots, deployed systems, measured outcomes, control exceptions, and unresolved risks. Demonstrations and projected value are not realized value.