By now, everyone’s probably heard the standard line that “AI frees up staff to do higher-level work.” But for Brex’s accounting team, at least, the spiel is true. Instead of doing “grunt work,” staff are now reviewing the work that AI performs, Erik Zhou, Brex’s chief accounting officer, told CFO Brew.

Before AI, Zhou estimated, staff were manually coding 30% of the invoices that came in. Now that AI is able to reconcile as many as 95% of invoices with purchase orders, staff can focus on reviewing instead. “Now you’re doing a review of all the work from a tool to make sure it all makes sense,” Zhou said. “And, frankly, it is more efficient.”

Similarly, instead of cranking out flux analyses for individual vendors, employees task AI with creating them, then review the final product.

“And then they’re spending more time in the business investigating what’s causing the trends,” he said. “We also have a better financial picture across the whole team.”

Zhou likens AI to a junior coworker that employees need to supervise. Unlike, say, Excel, AI can hallucinate or drift, so staff need to pay close attention. They’re responsible for AI’s outputs, he said: “It’s [got] your name on it, and you have to make sure the result makes sense."

Are newbies SOL? (Or do they just need SQL?) That, of course, raises the question: How are entry-level workers going to get the experience they need to supervise AI if AI is doing that work for them—or if they’re not getting hired at all?

How are new accountants going to break into an AI workplace?—CV

Things don’t look great on Wall Street—and they’re not looking too hot on Main Street, either.

A survey of more than 600 accounting professionals advising small and mid-sized businesses found that their optimism has taken a nosedive in recent months, according to Avalara, a tax compliance software company, and CPA Trendlines, a research hub which co-produced the survey. We can file this under: Well, duh.

Net sentiment for the group plunged “from a positive 19% to a negative 39%” between January and April 2025. It was a steady downward trend: At the start of the year, 47% of respondents saw economic conditions improving. By April, that figure was down to 25%, while 64% of respondents expected the economic landscape to worsen.

The group was also fairly unified in its top concerns. Three in five respondents said inflation, costs, and pricing were top concerns among clients, and said the same of tariffs and trade uncertainty.

“Accountants are sounding an urgent alarm,” Rick Telberg, founder of CPA Trendlines, said in a statement. “They’re advising SMBs to conserve cash, curb discretionary expenses, and resist taking on unnecessary debt. Amid volatility in tariffs, inflation, and complex tax legislation, SMBs face serious barriers to strategic growth and operational stability.”

Just how worried are accountants about Main Street?—NP

Global trade tensions and whipsawing policies are “contributing to a deterioration in prospects across most of the world’s economies,” according to a new World Bank forecast that doesn’t mince words.

In its Global Economic Prospects report, the financial institution projected global growth will slow to 2.3% this year, as a US-initiated trade war wreaks havoc worldwide. This is big if true, because 2.3% growth would be the slowest rate since 2008—and we all remember what happened around that time. The bank expected 2.7% growth in January, according to the New York Times. The World Bank further noted it expects a “tepid recovery” in 2026 and 2027.

“Global cooperation is needed to restore a more stable and transparent global trade environment and scale up support for vulnerable countries grappling with conflict, debt burdens, and climate change,” the bank noted in its report.

The World Bank forecast may be the least surprising thing you read all day. Any loyal reader of CFO Brew—or, really, anyone who isn’t outright ignoring *gestures wildly at everything*—would know there have been plenty of other anxiety-inducing indicators that came before it.

Keep reading here.—AZ

Ready or not, the future is here. Join MMA on June 25 as they unpack the top trends shaking up business—think AI, climate risks, talent challenges, and more. It’s your one-stop shop for turning uncertainty into opportunity (and panic into a plan). Register here.