Looking to Ireland for the CFO tech stack of the future
Mon, 18th May 2026 (Today)
It's no secret being a CFO is one of the toughest gigs in business. The demands are high, the hours are long, the responsibility huge and the deadlines constant. A strong team that is well trained and resourced can help you get there, but they must still be steered through escalating business needs within a complex business and regulatory environment.
Technology and automation is the way forward. Staff can be freed up from the grunt-work and focus on the critical areas where they can add value. Fees from external service providers and banks can be cut or removed. And Fintech's can provide capital options that are far more flexible and cheap.
Ireland has serious pedigree when it comes to the CFO tech stack. The country is well known as the tech capital of Europe – pretty much every tech company you can think of has a significant space there, usually with a large finance team, and it has the highest proportion of software developers per capita in the EU.
Its financial services credentials are impressive – it plays host to over 22 of the worlds 25 top financial services companies, 8 of the top 10 global insurers and over 120,000 highly skilled professionals working in the sector and a high proportion of qualified accountants.
At the intersection of these two rich ecosystems you get the tech innovation that fuels the finance team and the evolving challenges they face.
Australia plays host to an increasing number of Irish CFO-tech innovators. The similar regulatory environment and high exacting standards placed on finance teams, along with world-class approaches to data privacy and cyber security, has delivered an expanding number of partnerships across the country.
Capital
The lifeblood of any company is capital, and it must be managed strategically across the business.
Swoop is the "virtual CFO" for SME businesses, and acts as a singular hub for Australian companies to access a wide variety of financing including debt, equity and grants, localised to your state or territory.
As a capital provider, Wayflyer allows CFO's to access growth capital in a matter of hours, by connecting up their in-house accounting and payments systems in order to get a financing decision.
Accounting software
Every CFO will have racked up many hours across their career using accounting software and ERPs, with Xero, Sage or Intuit Quickbooks being the familiar names on the scene. Expanding rapidly in the mid-market is AccountsIQ, who serve companies who may have outgrown the main players and are not ready spend millions on an heavy enterprise solutions. The companies lightweight and robust software is popular with CFO's managing multi-entity and multi-currency complexity in their business.
Consulting
When companies are ready to make the leap to integrating or overhauling their ERP, Org Advisory is a management consultancy with a strong track record in finance transformation, working directly with the office of the CFO to deliver the change that often takes years in months. They have deep experience in assisting CFO's to realise their transformative vision.
Payments
Going international is exciting for any company, but with it comes the cost and complexity associated with international payments. Ireland has a strong offer here, starting with CurrencyFair who have long offered very competitive FX rates and extremely fast settlement times for business customers on their platform. Transfermate also are focussed on international B2B payments with a wide array of payments products and infrastructure that facilitates SME's, Corporates, Fintechs and Banks.
R&D tax incentives
The Research and Development Incentive Grant is a popular and well-known support in Australia. It requires a technical submission alongside the tax support claim. Irish AI company Kreoh has built a highly adaptable and compliant workspace that gathers the context of the project and drafts the claim while being trained on the relevant guidelines and legislation. This promises to speed up the preparation workload making life easier come tax time.
Ireland is a clear frontrunner for producing forward thinking, technology native CFO's, who are willing to go the extra mile to future proof their company's financial future.