European finance leaders are balancing an increasingly connected set of priorities: improving productivity, strengthening data and security, navigating regulatory complexity and turning growing investment in AI and transformation into measurable returns.

The European findings from Protiviti’s 2026 Global Finance Trends Survey show that AI adoption is now widespread, but the bigger challenge is moving from individual use cases and experimentation towards a more strategic, governed and measurable approach to transformation.

For European CFOs, that means getting the foundations right while maintaining a clear focus on value.