Generative AI didn’t just happen overnight, but for many, it probably feels like it did.

OpenAI introduced its new GenAI chatbot, ChatGPT, on Nov. 30, 2022—a watershed moment in the global economy and society at large. The corporate finance and accounting profession is certainly not an exception to the subsequent widespread transformation, which may only be getting started.

“You knew at the time it was going to be transformational,” Josh Schauer, CFO of insightsoftware, told us. “You immediately knew; it’s almost like when the internet came out and you’re like, this is going to change everything forever.”

Since then, AI has become the buzziest of buzzwords in corporate parlance. There’s been a rapid rise in corporate finance AI tools. Seemingly every SaaS company is promoting a shiny new AI feature. JPMorgan Chase recently noted that the amount of debt tied to AI has hit $1.2 trillion, making it the biggest segment in the investment-grade market, Bloomberg reported. A June RGP survey of finance leaders found that 42% of organizations were spending 10% or more of their capital budgets on AI. Of the 200 respondents, “84% said they’re optimistic about AI’s potential,” CFO Brew previously reported.

In the spring of 2023, not long after ChatGPT’s big intro, finance experts at Gartner presciently said that AI would shake up organizations’ funding priorities, CFO Brew reported.

“The idea is to really understand how the technology is going to impact your strategy going forward, staying strategic, and making sure you have good tactical people underneath you to execute on that vision and not get bogged down on ‘This lets me do this piece better,’” Alexander Bant, chief of CFO research at Gartner, said at the time.

Keep reading for the whole story on the rise of ChatGPT.—AZ

Here we are, talking about CFO turnover again. Why do we keep doing this? Because it keeps happening.

CFO turnover reached a seven-year high in the first three quarters of 2025, as 256 new CFOs took over and 215 CFOs left their posts worldwide, according to the latest Russell Reynolds CFO Turnover Index. That appears to continue a trend: In the first half of 2024, CFO turnover at public companies on 12 major stock indexes hit a three-year high “after slower starts to the year in 2022 and 2023,” according to the management consulting firm.

If you’re reading this, we have a feeling you already knew about the CFO turnover situation. What’s worth digging into a little more, though, is why CFOs keep leaving and changing posts, because the reasons are changing, too.

“Even over the last series of years, [we’ve seen] record high levels of turnover,” Linda Barham, financial officers practice Americas leader at Russell Reynolds, told CFO Brew. “Several years ago, coming through the 2021 IPO spike, that just naturally went toward increased turnover and increased opportunities at the CFO level.”

The biggest factor in turnover these days? Read on.—NP