Productivity gains in finance departments will depend on companies replacing manual work with digital tools, according to Paynest co-founder and chief executive Nuno Pereira, who argues that the real constraint is no longer technology but the conditions businesses create around it.
Paynest says finance teams need digital tools
That matters because finance teams sit at the center of cash flow, compliance and cost control, yet often remain weighed down by repetitive tasks that add little value. Pereira points to month-end closes that can take five days or more, invoice checks done by hand, expense reports chased at the end of each month and bank reconciliations still handled manually. In that environment, productivity is not just a matter of working harder; it is a question of whether companies have built systems that allow teams to work faster, with fewer errors and better data.
The economic case is straightforward. If a finance function can close the books in two days instead of five, process expenses in real time and reduce mistakes in payments and filings, it improves the quality of management decisions and lowers the risk of fines, cash leakage and audit issues. Faster collections and more disciplined supplier payments also strengthen treasury management, which is especially important when borrowing costs remain elevated and liquidity is more valuable than ever. For smaller companies in particular, those efficiencies can make the difference between scaling smoothly and spending too much time on low-value administration.
Pereira’s argument also fits a broader European productivity debate. Southern European economies have long lagged richer peers on output per hour, and governments have increasingly framed digitalization and artificial intelligence as tools to narrow that gap. In Portugal, as in other markets, the challenge is not the absence of available technology but the slow pace of adoption inside firms that still rely on labor-intensive workflows.
For investors, the message is that productivity software is no longer a back-office convenience; it is becoming a competitive necessity. Companies that automate finance operations can extract savings, improve visibility and free staff for higher-value work, while firms that delay modernization risk higher operating costs and weaker control over cash. The winners are likely to be businesses and software providers that can turn AI into measurable efficiency gains, not just promise them.
The key question now is whether companies will invest in the digital infrastructure needed to make those gains real. If they do, productivity should improve not only in finance teams but across the wider business. If they do not, manual processes will continue to cap growth, even as the technology to fix them becomes more accessible.
| Entity | Gains | Losses |
|---|---|---|
| Companies adopting AI and automation | ▲Faster closes, lower costs | ▼Manual-process-heavy rivals |
| CFOs and finance teams | ▲Better visibility, fewer errors | ▼Administrative workload |
| Software providers like Paynest | ▲Stronger demand | ▼Firms delaying digitalization |
| SMEs with limited resources | ▲Scalable operations | ▼Inefficiency, slower growth |
