How AI is about to transform the C-suite for small businesses

Good morning. Mastercard is betting the next wave of AI won’t just analyze transactions — it will help run companies.

The payments giant is building what it calls a “Virtual C-Suite,” a group of AI agents designed to give small businesses the kind of financial and operational insights typically reserved for large corporations.

The first digital executive, a virtual CFO, is expected to launch later this year through Mastercard’s network of financial institutions, accounting firms, and software partners.

“Many small-business owners are stretched thin—acting as CEO, CFO, and COO all at once,” Mark Barnett, Mastercard’s global head of small and medium enterprises, told me.

For Mastercard, No. 152 on the Fortune 500, whose network processed 175 billion transactions last year, the initiative represents a broader shift: moving beyond payments to helping shape the intelligence behind how businesses operate. You can read more of my conversation with Barnett about Mastercard’s virtual CFO here.

The timing may be significant for small businesses, which support the U.S. economy but continue to grapple with economic uncertainty. U.S. small-business sentiment fell again last month, slipping from 99.3 in January to 98.8 in February, according to a report by the National Federation of Independent Business released on Tuesday. The net share of owners expecting higher real sales dropped 8 points, erasing the strong gains seen earlier this year.

At the same time, many small companies can’t afford a full-time finance chief—the kind of expertise that can help navigate an uncertain environment. Instead, they are increasingly turning to fractional or virtual CFOs, a trend that is growing quickly. The global virtual CFO market is projected to grow from about $4.7 billion in 2026 to more than $10 billion by 2035.

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

Leaderboard

Jérémie Papin is stepping down from his role as CFO at Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. for personal reasons, according to the company. George Leondis, a long-serving Nissan executive, is appointed to succeed him effective April 1. Papin will remain with the company through mid-May to lead the closing of FY25. Papin joined Nissan in 2004 as head of finance for Nissan Australia. Over the past two decades, he has taken on senior finance and leadership roles across Nissan’s key markets, in addition to leading auto sales finance businesses and regional administration. In 2024, Papin returned to Japan to lead global product and industrial operations control, partnership finance, and M&A. He began his career at PwC.

Olivier Leonetti was appointed CFO of Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), a digital infrastructure company, effective March 16. Leonetti brings more than 30 years of financial leadership experience. He most recently served as CFO of Eaton, a power management company. Before Eaton, he was CFO of Johnson Controls. Earlier in his career, Leonetti was CFO of Zebra Technologies and Western Digital. He has also held senior finance leadership roles at Dell and Amgen. Leonetti will succeed longtime Equinix CFO Keith Taylor. As announced last year, Taylor is retiring in 2026 following a 27-year career with the company.

Big Deal

Internal audit functions are increasingly being asked to do more with limited budgets and staff, according to The Institute of Internal Auditors' 2026 North American Pulse of Internal Audit Survey. The share of functions reporting budget cuts rose from 11% to 19% between 2024 and 2025, while those reporting increases fell from 34% to 23%. The percentage reporting staff cuts also rose, from 11% to 18%, though staff growth remained roughly unchanged at about 25%.

Financial services was the only sector analyzed where internal audit budgets remained stable year over year: 40% reported budget growth and just 9% reported cuts.

The survey also found that internal audit functions closely aligned with organizational strategy are more likely to be well funded. Funding sufficiency was 30 percentage points higher for functions that said they were fully or nearly aligned with strategy (59%) than for those only somewhat aligned (29%).

Despite tighter budgets and staffing across sectors, internal audit’s scope remains broad, with about 86% of chief audit executives overseeing at least one area beyond internal audit.

Going deeper

"Meet the quiet winners of the Supreme Court tariff ruling: hedge funds creating a $100 billion market snapping up rights to importers’ tariff refunds" is a Fortune article by Sasha Rogelberg.

With up to $180 billion in tariff revenue potentially refundable to U.S. firms and consumers, investment firms, hedge funds, and liquidation specialists are positioning themselves to profit if the refunds materialize, Rogelberg writes. Read more here.