Strategic Awareness and Tactical Measures: CFOs Adopt Cautious Stance yet Project a Positive Outlook for 2026
In a cautious outlook, Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) across various industries are expressing concerns about near-term growth prospects and spending plans, as highlighted by recent surveys including the Grant Thornton Q2 2025 CFO survey.
## Near-Term Growth Prospects
Confidence in achieving growth targets is at a low ebb, with only 41% of CFOs expressing confidence, marking one of the lowest levels in at least 15 quarters. The percentage of CFOs expecting profits to rise over the next 12 months has dropped significantly, from 78% in Q1 to 61% in Q2, a 17-point decrease or a 22% reduction. CFOs' overall negative outlook on the U.S. economy reached a 15-month high, with nearly half (46%) expressing pessimism.
## Spending Plans
Cost management is a priority for CFOs, who are focusing on reducing costs sustainably by eliminating non-value-add spending and optimizing value-add spending to create a leaner cost structure. About 41% of CFOs have postponed, scaled down, delayed, or cancelled investment plans due to trade-related uncertainty, reflecting a cautious approach to spending.
There is a noted slowdown in mergers and acquisitions, with a third of business leaders pausing M&A deals over tariff uncertainty. Executive teams are also adjusting their spending plans to address economic uncertainties, including tariffs and inflation challenges.
## Adapting to Challenges
Paul Melville, national managing principal of Grant Thornton's CFO Advisory Services group, stated that today's concerns around tariffs and other factors would be more acute without the experiences and decision processes from dealing with high levels of uncertainty around a pandemic resurgence, labor shortages, and a rush of inflation. What's different and more manageable for executive teams, according to Melville, is that the actual and potential impacts of changes to tariff and tax regimes are more far more quantifiable than those of the coronavirus.
Melville further emphasised the need for executive teams to keep investing in technological tools such as data analytics and artificial intelligence to make smarter decisions in a more tactical environment. Nearly eight out of 10 CFOs in the survey expect tariffs enacted earlier this year to push up prices.
On a positive note, nearly two-thirds of companies are expanding their supplier base, and nearly half of the companies are creating or refining their business continuity plans. Furthermore, 51% of finance leaders have customer acquisition and retention among their top three areas of focus, and 53% are beefing up their spending on sales and marketing. Both sales spend and focus on customer acquisition and retention metrics are up 13 points from the first quarter.
In conclusion, CFOs are adapting to the challenges posed by economic uncertainties by focusing on cost management, investing in technological tools, and prioritising sales and marketing to set up their organisations for a good run at 2026. Despite the pessimistic outlook, there are signs of resilience and adaptability among CFOs and their organisations.
[1] Source: Grant Thornton Q2 2025 CFO survey [2] Source: Unspecified [3] Source: Grant Thornton Q2 2025 CFO survey [4] Source: Unspecified
Business leaders are focusing on reducing costs sustainably, optimizing value-add spending, and postponing, scaling down, delaying, or canceling investment plans due to trade-related uncertainty, as revealed in the Grant Thornton Q2 2025 CFO survey. Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) are still investing in technological tools such as data analytics and artificial intelligence to make smarter decisions in a more tactical environment, as recommended by Paul Melville, national managing principal of Grant Thornton's CFO Advisory Services group.
