Best AI for CFOs

Research notes on AI in finance work, by task

Index
W/P 8
Built
4 November 2026
Volume
1
This page
2 exhibits
  1. Best AI for CFOs
  2. Use cases
  3. Contract and lease data

8of 12 workpapers

Contract and lease data extraction

Can AI products pull the terms finance needs out of contracts and leases, and how is the extracted data checked?

Published . Vendor pages read 3 November 2026.

How AI products extract payment terms, lease data and obligations from contracts for finance teams, where people check the data, and vendor questions.

Products listed
7
Makers in the SEC ticker file
1
Filing excerpts
0
Notes
15

Lead schedule.Data the makers in this workpaper name

One stroke per record, in fives. Systems named by 4 or more records; every system is in Appendix C.

The schedule scrolls sideways; the workpaper column stays in place.

W/PBanksNetSuiteERPSAPCardsIntacctWorkdayClaudeCRMQuickBooksDynamicsOraclePaymentsPayrollSalesforceNo data named
8Contract and lease data1131122

Answer sheet.What the makers' pages in this workpaper answer

One stroke per record: solid where the maker's own page answers the question, dotted where the pages read are silent. A count of what the pages say, not a score.

W/PData it namesWhere a person reviewsModel or data handling
8Contract and lease data5 of 73 of 72 of 7

1The work

AI products in this area read contracts and leases and extract the data finance needs (parties, dates, payment terms, renewal and termination options, escalations, obligations) so that it can be recorded, accounted for and monitored; a person checks the extracted terms and makes the accounting judgments. The makers in this note describe contract repositories with AI search and analysis, lease accounting software that processes documents by email, and assistants that apply the same questions across every file.

Finance needs contract data for several reasons. Lease accounting requires each lease's term, payments, options and discount rate to compute the liability and the right-of-use asset. Revenue recognition depends on performance obligations, pricing and variable consideration in customer contracts. Purchase commitments, rebates, penalties and change-of-control clauses affect accruals and disclosures. Much of this sits in PDFs, scanned amendments and side letters that nobody has abstracted.

Abstraction has always been manual and error-prone, which is why it is a natural target for language models. The risk is that an extracted field looks authoritative in a system even when the model misread an amendment or missed a side letter.

A person must stay in the loop for the review of extracted terms before they drive an accounting entry, for the accounting conclusions themselves (lease classification, whether an option is reasonably certain to be exercised, how a modification is treated), and for completeness: knowing that every contract that should be in the population is.

2Where AI is applied

Makers describe extraction of terms from contract and lease documents, plain-language questions over a contract portfolio, semantic search for clauses and financial terms, and answers that link back to the source passage.

Exhibit 8.1.What the makers say, in their words, alphabetical by maker

  • FinQuery Inbox lets you use the power of email and AI to automatically process documents and link them to the correct records.7
    FinQuery, FinQuery Inbox, LeaseQuery
  • Vera Insights Agent analyzes contract portfolios to surface risks, obligations, and opportunities8
    Icertis, Vera Insights Agent
  • Coordinate workflow agents for intake, archive, review, and renewal9
    Ironclad, Ironclad Agent
  • Centralize and automate the entire lease accounting lifecycle, from abstraction and administration to compliance, audit, and reporting under IFRS 16, ASC 842, and local GAAP, for large lessee or lessor portfolios.10
    Nakisa, Nakisa Lease Accounting
  • Apply the same questions to every file in a population, so the hundredth lease gets the same scrutiny as the first.11
    Trullion, Trulli
  • Our AI-supported tools streamline lease management and lease accounting processes, reducing manual effort and errors.12
    Visual Lease, AI Lease Abstraction
  • Extract insights from documents to capture payment terms, agreement information, and more to recommend downstream actions.13
    Workday, Accounting agent, Contracts Agent

Source: the makers' own pages, read 3 November 2026; notes 7 to 13.

3Limits and control questions

Completeness is a control question the software cannot answer on its own: an extraction tool only sees the documents it is given.

For a listed company, any automated step that feeds the financial statements sits inside internal control over financial reporting, which management must evaluate and report on; the SEC's interpretive guidance for that report is Release 33-8810.1 COSO describes its Internal Control, Integrated Framework as originally issued in 1992 and refreshed in 2013.2

Where a product uses a generative model to draft text, NIST has published a separate profile on the risks particular to generative AI, NIST AI 600-1.3 Ask how the product shows the passage behind each extracted field, so a reviewer can check it.

NIST's AI Risk Management Framework is a common reference for those questions. NIST says the framework is "intended for voluntary use and to improve the ability to incorporate trustworthiness considerations into the design, development, use, and evaluation of AI products, services, and systems."4 Its first version is published as NIST AI 100-1.5

Vendor claims about AI are claims, not findings. The SEC has brought settled charges against two investment advisers "for making false and misleading statements about their purported use of artificial intelligence (AI)."6 A finance team that relies on a vendor's description should ask for evidence of what the feature does with its own data.

4What filers say

A full-text search of SEC filings made between June 2025 and October 2026 found no filer describing AI in its own work on this task in words specific enough to quote. See how filings were searched.

5Products

Exhibit 8.2.Products addressing contract and lease data extraction, by the data they name

7 product records whose makers say they address this task, alphabetical by maker. Open a row for our summary, the data it names and the maker's words on review; the marks show which questions the maker's pages answer.

  1. FinQuery Inbox, LeaseQueryFinQueryData it names: quoted.Where a person reviews: not stated.Model or data handling: not stated.
    Our summary
    Lease accounting software (ASC 842, IFRS 16 and others) with an inbox that uses AI to process lease documents and link them to records. The page names the general ledgers it connects to.
    Data it names (our list)
    NetSuite, Infor, Acumatica, Sage, Microsoft, SAP, QuickBooks, Workday
    Where a person reviews (quoted)
    Not stated on the pages read.
  2. Vera Insights AgentIcertisData it names: quoted.Where a person reviews: not stated.Model or data handling: not stated.
    Our summary
    An AI agent in a contract management platform that answers plain-language questions about contract portfolios and surfaces obligations and financial terms. The maker aims it at finance and procurement as well as legal.
    Data it names (our list)
    Contract repository, Salesforce, SAP Ariba
    Where a person reviews (quoted)
    Not stated on the pages read.
  3. Ironclad AgentIroncladData it names: quoted.Where a person reviews: not stated.Model or data handling: not stated.
    Our summary
    Contract lifecycle software with AI agents for intake, review, archive and renewal. The maker names Salesforce, Slack and SAP among the places it works.
    Data it names (our list)
    Salesforce, Slack, SAP
    Where a person reviews (quoted)
    Not stated on the pages read.
  4. Nakisa Lease AccountingNakisaData it names: quoted.Where a person reviews: not stated.Model or data handling: not stated.
    Our summary
    Lease accounting software for large lessee and lessor portfolios under IFRS 16 and ASC 842. The maker lists AI agents and two-way ERP integrations among its features.
    Data it names (our list)
    ERP
    Where a person reviews (quoted)
    Not stated on the pages read.
  5. TrulliTrullionData it names: quoted.Where a person reviews: quoted.Model or data handling: quoted.
    Our summary
    An AI accounting assistant that answers questions from standards, firm policies and documents such as leases, applying the same questions across a population. The maker says each answer links to its source passage.
    Data it names (our list)
    Accounting standards, Firm policies, Documents
    Where a person reviews (quoted)
    Every answer links back to the source passage, so reviewers can check the evidence before it goes into the file.
  6. AI Lease AbstractionVisual LeaseData it names: not stated.Where a person reviews: quoted.Model or data handling: quoted.
    Our summary
    Lease management and lease accounting software with AI lease abstraction. The maker says each AI suggestion can be checked against the lease language it came from.
    Data it names (our list)
    Not stated on the pages read.
    Where a person reviews (quoted)
    Save time entering new leases and quickly verify every AI generated suggestion with fields that tie back to the lease language.
  7. Accounting agent, Contracts AgentWorkdayData it names: not stated.Where a person reviews: quoted.Model or data handling: not stated.
    Our summary
    AI agents in Workday Financials that help prepare, reconcile and certify accounts, and extract terms from contracts. The maker says accountants set the rules and manage exceptions.
    Data it names (our list)
    Not stated on the pages read.
    Where a person reviews (quoted)
    accountants set the rules, manage exceptions, and gain access to one simplified and auditable workflow.

Source: the makers' own pages, read 3 November 2026; notes 7 to 15.

6Questions to put to a vendor

  1. Which fields does the product extract, and how is each one linked to the passage it came from?
  2. How does it handle amendments, side letters and scanned documents?
  3. What confidence measure does it give, and which fields must a person confirm before use?
  4. Does it make or suggest accounting conclusions, or only extract data?
  5. How do extracted terms reach the ledger or the lease subledger, and who approves that?
  6. How does it help us show the contract population is complete?
  7. Which model reads the documents, where are they processed, and is our data used for training?
  8. What audit trail exists from a journal entry back to the contract clause?

Notes

  1. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Commission Guidance Regarding Management's Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting, Release 33-8810. www.sec.gov/rules/interp/2007/33-8810.pdf. Read 29 October 2026.
  2. COSO, Internal Control, Integrated Framework. www.coso.org/guidance-on-ic. Read 29 October 2026.
  3. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Generative Artificial Intelligence Profile, NIST AI 600-1. nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/ai/NIST.AI.600-1.pdf. Read 29 October 2026.
  4. National Institute of Standards and Technology, AI Risk Management Framework. www.nist.gov/itl/ai-risk-management-framework. Read 29 October 2026.
  5. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework (AI RMF 1.0), NIST AI 100-1. nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/ai/NIST.AI.100-1.pdf. Read 29 October 2026.
  6. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC Charges Two Investment Advisers with Making False and Misleading Statements About Their Use of Artificial Intelligence. www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024-36. Read 29 October 2026.
  7. FinQuery, Lease Accounting Software for ASC 842 & More Standards. finquery.com/lease-accounting-software/. Read 3 November 2026.
  8. Icertis, AI Agents Turn Contracts Into Intelligence | Icertis. www.icertis.com/products/analyze/vera-insights-agent/. Read 30 October 2026.
  9. Ironclad, Ironclad's CLM Platform: Turning Every Contract Into Intelligence and Action. ironcladapp.com/product/ai-based-contract-management. Read 30 October 2026.
  10. Nakisa, AI-Driven Enterprise Solutions for HR, Finance, and Real Estate - Nakisa. nakisa.com/. Read 2 November 2026.
  11. Trullion, Trulli: AI Agent for Accounting & Audit | Trullion. trullion.com/products/ai-agent-trulli/. Read 1 November 2026.
  12. Visual Lease, Visual Lease | Lease Accounting Management and Compliance Software. visuallease.com/. Read 2 November 2026.
  13. Workday, Accounting AI Agent for Continuous Close | Workday US. www.workday.com/en-us/ai-agents/finance/accounting.html. Read 29 October 2026.
  14. Workday, Contracts Agent | AI Contract Management | Workday US. www.workday.com/en-us/ai-agents/finance/contracts.html. Read 29 October 2026.
  15. Visual Lease, AI Lease Abstraction | Visual Lease. visuallease.com/solutions/ai-lease-abstraction/. Read 2 November 2026.

Other use cases: Forecasting, Accounts payable, Expense audit, Collections and cash application, Reconciliation, Close automation, Variance analysis, Tax research, Treasury and FX, Payment anomalies and fraud, Audit preparation.