In brief
What launched: Numminen Advisory, a fractional CFO service that automates finance operations with AI and adds an experienced CFO for funding, group structures, audit and transactions. Why now: AI support for financial forecasting among Finnish business leaders rose from 44% to 78% during 2026, while only one in five Nordic CFOs has high confidence in AI for decisions. Who it is for: growth companies that need a reliable finance function and senior CFO experience before a full-time hire.
Numminen Advisory opens today as a CFO service for growth companies. We automate the routine layer of finance operations with AI and give companies an experienced CFO for the decisions that shape their next stage: a funding round, a second entity, a first serious audit or a transaction. Clients get both from one place, in the amount they need, without hiring a full-time CFO before the business is ready for one.
I have spent more than 15 years building and running finance functions at very different stages of growth. That includes international finance operations at high-growth scaleups such as Groupon and Indeed.com, and finance leadership at fast-growing startups including Silo AI and ONEiO. Along the way I have seen how much of a finance team’s week goes into work that software can now do, and how few growing companies have someone who can turn that capacity into better decisions.
Why launch a CFO service built on AI now
AI has moved into financial planning faster than most finance changes I have seen. Azets, which provides accounting and financial management services in the Nordics, the UK and Ireland, runs a quarterly barometer of business leaders. In April 2026, 44% of its Finnish respondents said technology significantly supported their forecasting and scenario planning.1 By June, Azets reported that AI use in support of financial management had reached 70%.2
The climb continued through the summer. In September, 78% of Finnish business leaders in the barometer said AI already supported their financial forecasting and scenario planning.3 A shift of that size inside one year changes what a finance function needs from its leader.
Expertise has become the bottleneck
Most finance leaders already have AI tools in their hands. Rillion, a Swedish provider of accounts payable automation software, surveyed 250 CFOs and finance leaders in Sweden, Denmark and Finland with the research firm Analysesjefene. Eight in ten use AI in their daily work.4
The harder part is knowing how to use it well. One in four respondents named the lack of in-house AI expertise as the biggest barrier to wider adoption, and only one in five has high confidence in AI for decision-making.4 I covered the wider Nordic picture in AI in finance: what Nordic finance leaders need to know in 2026.
For a growing company this creates a practical problem. The tools are cheap and widely available, yet setting them up so that the numbers can be trusted takes someone who understands both the accounting and the automation. In my experience, that person rarely exists inside a company before it hires its first CFO.
What we automate
Numminen Advisory sets up the routine layer of finance operations to run on AI from the first month of an engagement. That layer covers the recurring work that keeps the books and the reporting current:
- reconciliations and the checks that go with the monthly close
- the groundwork for monthly reporting and board packs
- updates to the forecast as new actuals arrive
The automation works inside the client’s own accounting and reporting systems, with access limited to what each task needs. Every output is reviewed before it goes to the board or an auditor. That review step is what turns a fast process into one a company can rely on.
The benefit for the client is time. A finance team that no longer spends its week assembling numbers can spend it on cash, pricing, hiring plans and the questions the board will ask next. It also shortens the time between the end of a month and the moment management sees the figures, which matters most in the months before a funding round.
What an experienced CFO adds
Automation handles the recurring work well. Growing companies also face moments where the right answer depends on experience with similar situations, and those moments tend to arrive before the company can justify a full-time CFO. I explained how to recognise that point in When does your startup need a CFO? Alongside ongoing CFO support, our work focuses on four areas.
| Area | When companies need it |
|---|---|
| Group consolidation | A second entity has been set up and the group needs consolidated figures it can defend |
| Funding and diligence readiness | A funding round or a transaction is coming and the numbers will be examined in detail |
| Audit readiness | The first serious audit is approaching and the accounts need to hold up |
| Transfer pricing | Entities in different countries trade with each other and the pricing needs documenting |
Group structures are where I see the most avoidable cost. The second entity changes the finance map completely, as I described in How to prepare your startup for multi-entity finance operations. My own experience covers IFRS and US GAAP reporting and groups spanning Finland, the United States and the United Arab Emirates.
The CFO as the bridge to the executive agenda
The CFO role in a growing company now reaches well beyond the finance function. In my experience, boards expect the finance lead to have a view on how AI is used across the business and on whether go-to-market spending is paying back. I wrote about this wider role in What a CEO can’t delegate to finance.
In practice, that means building a joint forecast with sales, timing sales hires against pipeline and cash, and deciding where automation is worth the investment outside finance. A CFO who has already automated the finance function is well placed to advise on the rest of the company, because the same questions about data quality, access rights and review apply in every team.
Who Numminen Advisory is for
Our clients are growth companies that need a working finance function and an experienced CFO before a full-time hire makes sense. A typical client is preparing for its next funding round, setting up a subsidiary abroad or in the middle of a due diligence process.
A full-time CFO remains the right choice for many companies, especially once the finance team is large and the CFO’s calendar is full every week. Until then, a fractional model has clear advantages. The company gets senior experience at the moments that need it, and as a fractional CFO I can give objective advice without a long-term commitment on either side. The limitation is availability: a fractional CFO is not in the office every day, which is one more reason the routine layer has to run reliably on its own. Our working language is English, which is also the language of most investor, audit and diligence processes our clients go through.
Bottom line
What launched: Numminen Advisory, a fractional CFO service that automates finance operations with AI and adds an experienced CFO for funding, group structures, audit and transactions.
Why now: AI support for financial forecasting among Finnish business leaders rose from 44% to 78% during 2026, while only one in five Nordic CFOs has high confidence in AI for decisions.
Who it is for: growth companies that need a reliable finance function and senior CFO experience before a full-time hire.
Talk to Joanna
If your company is preparing for a funding round or wants to automate its finance operations, I would be glad to hear where you are. Get in touch directly:
Joanna Numminen
Founder, Numminen Advisory
Email. joanna@numminenadvisory.com
Phone. +358 (0)44 959 2978
LinkedIn. linkedin.com/in/joanna-numminen
References
- Azets. Suomalaisyritykset Pohjoismaiden keskitasoa tekoälyn hyödyntämisessä. 10 April 2026.
- Azets. Tekoäly vauhdittaa talousennustamista. 26 June 2026.
- Verkkouutiset. Suomalaisjohtajat ovat optimistisia tekoälyn vaikutuksista työllisyyteen. 17 September 2026.
- Rillion with Analysesjefene. Nordic Finance AI Report 2026. 2026.