AI Essentials for Finance: Making better decisions 

Judgment, Value Creation, and Decision Systems 

Developed by Professor Dennis Vink, PhD and Stéphane Guerraz, MBA this program builds on extensive experience in educating and advising professionals across leading international organizations. It reflects years of working with senior decision-makers on real-world financial, strategic, and investment challenges. 

Finance has always served three core purposes: measuring economic reality, translating it into value, and enabling decisions under uncertainty. Each major shift in capitalism has reshaped how these functions are performed. Artificial intelligence represents the next such shift. 

This program examines how AI is transforming the practice of finance—not by altering its fundamental responsibilities, but by reshaping how financial judgment is formed, challenged, and embedded into organizational decision systems. 

Through rigorous corporate finance case work, participants analyze financial statements, valuation frameworks, capital allocation, and investment decisions to assess long-term economic value creation. AI tools are used to surface assumptions, explore alternative futures, stress-test returns, and contrast financial conclusions with management narratives at the time decisions were made. 

The emphasis is not on prediction, but on judgment: how finance moves beyond analysis to design decision rules, financial guardrails, and escalation mechanisms that allow organizations to act faster without losing financial discipline. 

Participants leave with a clear understanding of how AI reshapes measurement, valuation, and judgment—and how finance can serve as a central driver of strategy, governance, and business model design in an increasingly volatile environment. 

Who Should Attend 

This program is designed for leaders involved in high-stakes decisions where financial outcomes, strategic choices, and uncertainty intersect. 

Typical participants include: 

• Senior finance leaders (CFOs, finance directors, controllers) 
• Strategy, corporate development, and M&A professionals 
• General managers and business unit leaders with P&L responsibility 
• Board members and senior executives with oversight of investment and capital allocation 
• Consultants and advisors working at the intersection of finance, strategy, and AI 
• Non-financial leaders who regularly make or influence investment, growth, or transformation decisions 

The program is particularly relevant for participants who seek to strengthen financial judgment, not merely analytical capability, and who want to engage more effectively with finance in strategic and board-level decision-making in the age of AI. 

Preparation and Study Commitment 

Participants will receive a curated set of textbooks, case materials, and preparatory readings in advance of the program. These materials provide the conceptual foundation and empirical context required for the case discussions and in-class exercises. 

To fully benefit from the program, participants are expected to dedicate approximately 10 hours of individual preparation prior to the sessions. This preparation is essential to ensure a common analytical baseline and to enable rigorous, high-quality discussion during the program. 

The required preparation reflects the program’s emphasis on depth, rigor, and active participation, and is integral to the overall learning experience.