As Tom Herbert returns from sunny San Francisco, he reflects on his time at Sage Future and the event’s focus on building trust in artificial intelligence (AI). He shares the research from the conference, the push to improve user confidence and the announcements pointing towards a more practical, pragmatic phase of AI adoption.

Mathew Ord explores the perception and performance gap facing finance professionals. He looks back on his conversation with Chris Argent, founder of GENCFO and Accounting Excellence judge, about the disconnect between finance teams that see themselves as strategic business partners and those genuinely operating in that role.

Staying with finance, Ord also highlights this year’s Accounting Excellence finance categories, including Finance Digital Transformation, Finance Team of the Year and Finance Leader of the Year. Get your entries in before the 20 May deadline.