SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 10, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Planful Inc., the pioneer of financial performance management cloud software, today announced AI Thinking Mode, a new reasoning capability embedded within Planful AI Analyst Assistant, purpose-built for finance. As Planful continues to deepen its AI capabilities, AI Thinking Mode helps customers work more efficiently and engage more thoughtfully with their data, so teams and companies can turn deeper analysis, insights, and recommendations into stronger financial performance.

“AI is a game-changer for FP&A, especially when it’s built right into the tools and processes we already use,” said Adam Hoffer, Senior Financial Planning & Analysis Manager, Integrate. “We treat Planful AI Analyst Assistant as another analyst on our team that fields questions about our financial data quickly and delivers answers we trust. Now with AI Thinking Mode included within this assistant, our day-three accrual reviews during month-end close are dramatically faster and provide more detail.”

AI Thinking Mode works quickly through financial data and context to address multi-step questions and return a detailed analysis that previously could take hours to complete. Users can analyze multiple reports and data sets with a single prompt, then discuss, adjust, and refine their outputs, all securely within the Planful platform. Similar to the skills found in other AI tools, AI Thinking Mode lets users save, share, and reuse “recipes,” which capture prompt threads, referenced data, and other instructions, so teams can run recurring analysis on demand or on a regular cadence. Customers also value the flexibility of Planful’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server, which complements AI Thinking Mode by giving users the option to work with their Planful data beyond the platform.

AI Thinking Mode example tasks include:

  • Investigate performance across reporting: Compare results to budget or forecast, identify significant variances, and suggest which accounts or departments warrant follow-up
  • Get ahead of month-end close: Review accruals and results, then draft commentary for finance leaders to refine
  • Track balance sheet trends: Analyze working capital and other balance sheet measures, flag changes, and suggest areas for further investigation
  • Keep workforce costs on plan: Compare workforce costs or headcount related changes against budget or forecast and highlight areas for review
  • Explain what’s driving the numbers: Trace results through general ledger transactions and user comments for deeper contextual analysis to get the full story behind a variance

Sanjay Vyas, Planful’s Chief Technology Officer, said: “Finance leaders don’t need generic AI summaries; they need transparent reasoning, in the language of finance, that delivers analysis they can trust in the boardroom. AI Thinking Mode lets teams ask complex, sequential questions and get fully explainable answers that quickly uncover key financial drivers, freeing them from piecing together the past and giving them the speed and confidence to focus on what matters most: driving strategic business decisions.”

AI Thinking Mode is the latest advancement to Planful AI Analyst Assistant, the company’s highly popular AI financial analyst. It delivers immediate insights for ad-hoc data questions and analysis all in natural language, redefining how finance teams work by removing the burden of manual effort and freeing them to focus on strategic decision making. Along with Planful AI Planner Assistant, which brings forward looking planning and forecasting into a conversational experience, these capabilities are part of a growing family of Planful AI assistants purpose-built for finance.

To learn more, register for Planful’s AI Thinking Mode webinar on November 17, 2026 and visit planful.com/ai for information about Planful’s full range of AI capabilities.

About Planful
Planful is the pioneer of financial performance management cloud software. The Planful platform is used around the globe to streamline business-wide planning, budgeting, consolidations, reporting, and analytics. Planful’s award-winning AI capabilities accelerate decision-making, helping users in over 100 countries close faster, shorten cycle times, increase productivity, and improve accuracy. Planful is a private company with more than 1,500 customers, including Bose, Boston Red Sox, Five Guys, Grafton Plc, Gousto, and Specialized, and is backed by Vector Capital, a leading global private equity firm. Learn more at planful.com.

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