Good morning. The financial confidence of the financial director took a huge blow.
Deloitte’s Q2 2025 CFO signal reporting This morning released sentiment from 200 financial leaders of North American $20 billion revenue companies. The CFO confidence score is 5.4 and 6.4 compared to the Q1 reading, indicating moderate confidence-high confidence. In a short period of time, this is more than 15%.
The survey was conducted from June 4 to June 18 and found that growth expectations for each major operating indicator were declining. In fact, CFOs reduce forecasts for income, earnings and capital investments. Less than a quarter (23%) of CFOs see the North American economy as “good now.” By comparison, 50% of financial leaders provided the same optimistic response in the Q1 survey.
Only one-third of CFOs think it’s a good time to take more risks, the lowest reading since the third quarter of 2024 – compared to 60% in the first quarter. Meanwhile, 46% of the chief financial officers surveyed said the U.S. capital market was undervalued, and 41% said it was overvalued. More than half (53%) view debt financing as attractive, 41% equity.
Core uncertainty
I asked Steve Gallucci, the global and U.S. leader of the Deloitte CFO program, whether tariff uncertainty is the main reason for the optimistic decline. He stressed that wider global uncertainty is the real driver.
“There is uncertainty at any time (whether policy, geopolitical, economic or capital markets) becomes less optimistic.” While tariffs are one of the contributing factors, Gallucci noted that the survey did not list it separately and that the overall sentiment is composed of unpredictable forces.
He noted last year’s U.S. presidential election as an example: “There is a lot of uncertainty in the outcome, and CFO optimism has dropped. Once the election has settled, optimism has surged. Now new uncertainties around policy and the broader environment have been compensated, and sentiment has fallen again.”
Recalibrate and reset
The CFO calls the highest external risk economic risk (53%). How is the response of CFOs as growth expectations and revenue forecasts decline? Gallucci describes the current environment as a recalibration, not a retreat. Instead of retreating, the financial leaders doubled down on fundamentals:
– Focus on growth drivers: CFOs are re-examining, both organically and elsewhere, growth can be obtained from it.
– Manage controllable risks: Financial leaders are prioritizing their impact – cost discipline, talent strategies and plans to support technology.
– Active participation in M&A: Despite the risks, there is still interest in mergers and acquisitions, and there are some signs of increased IPO activity in the first half of the year.
Technology and cybersecurity remain top priority
Gallucci highlights the importance of technology investment – from disruptive innovation to generative AI. However, he noted that the CFO is still cautiously adopting AI.
As the company expands its technology platform, cybersecurity remains a leading external focus (51%). “The network will always be at the top of the CFO risk list,” Galuchi said, especially when businesses rely more on third-party providers and digital infrastructure.
Internal risks of interconnectedness
The CFO cites three highest internal risks: talent availability (46%), lack of agility/resilience (46%) and cost management (45%) – with nearly equal importance.
These risks are closely linked, Gallucci explained. The disruption of supply chains and potential policy changes is driving program plans around cost management. Meanwhile, talent challenges have shifted from hybrid work logistics to capability gaps: “Do I have the right skills in the financial organization to support the future, which will rely more on technology, automation and AI?” he explains.
CFOs focus on improving skills, recruiting new capabilities, and leveraging a wider talent pool to ensure their teams are ready for what’s coming.
Deloitte’s second-quarter CFO survey showed financial leadership communities were in trouble with uncertainty. They are actively committed to addressing unknown storms and storms in future growth locations.
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
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