At a finance conference in Rovinj, a Croatian startup founder warned that AI now lets finance workers coast, a habit that could stall their climb toward senior roles. That blunt message set the tone for a broader debate about whether machines will shrink or simply reshape corporate finance departments.
Luka Mijatović, co-founder and CFO of Farseer, an AI-driven enterprise planning platform, told attendees at Finance Weekend that young finance professionals need real discipline. Without learning the underlying mechanics of finance, he argued, they risk leaning on one-prompt AI tools and losing the depth required for advancement.
Several other executives pushed back on the idea of wholesale job cuts. Matija Kovačević, CFO of Hrvatski Telekom, said AI would transform finance teams rather than eliminate them. His company already uses the technology across finance operations, including hunting down ghost payments, those mistaken entries with bad reference numbers. What once required human investigators now runs about 90 percent more efficiently, he said.
Bogdan Jelić, account manager at Comtrade System Integration, took a similar line. Each department, including finance, carries its own specialization that AI cannot simply replace, though he acknowledged that automation can handle certain routine processes.
Kovačević predicted the biggest shift would hit data collection, with value moving from producing numbers toward interpreting them. He said AI currently adds costs during its experimental phase, but deployment should eventually generate revenue. Mijatović agreed on the expense side, yet noted that Farseer’s engineering teams have seen massive productivity gains.
Looking toward 2030, Kovačević expects leaner finance teams focused on analysis, scrutinizing what AI produces. Their importance, he insisted, would not decline.
Léa Raiche-Marsden, VP of Finance at Leanspace, urged finance professionals to avoid passivity. In a keynote on executive influence, she argued that staying quiet might earn likability but also buries critical judgment. “The quieter the objective voice gets, the louder everyone else gets,” she said. Her advice: build alliances across business functions.
Meanwhile, Farseer CEO Matija Nakić detailed the company’s $7.2 million Series A, led by Aymo Ventures with participation from SQ Capital and Apertu Capital. Total funding now tops $8 million. Farseer positions itself as the only AI-native enterprise planning platform, challenging SAP, IBM, Microsoft Excel, Anaplan, and Pigment. With roughly 60 employees and customers across 15 European countries, the company plans a free version for technical teams later in 2026.
