Part 1- The CFO Alliance’s April 2025 CFO Pulse Survey indicates forecast confidence is dwindling

More than half of emerging and midmarket CFOs say their 2025 forecasts are worsening amid growing economic and policy uncertainty, according to The CFO Alliance’s April edition of the Emerging & Midmarket CFO Pulse Survey.

A survey of more than 9,000 CFOs that concluded on April 18 found 54% described the current impact of global sentiment and policy risks as moderately negative, while another 19% said the impact was significantly negative. These findings suggest finance leaders are bracing for a turbulent year ahead as external pressures mount.

CFOs are already taking defensive action to protect profitability and liquidity. Nearly 30% reported delaying capital investments or expansion plans, while 19% are accelerating nearshoring or reshoring initiatives to manage supply chain risks and presumably tariffs. Only 11% are aggressively adjusting pricing models, indicating the priority is risk mitigation over revenue growth as well as not pushing the costs of tariffs onto customers. Across the survey, CFOs emphasized a “protect and prioritize” approach to navigating uncertainty.

“As economic volatility, policy uncertainty and global market disruption intensify, finance leaders across markets and industries are under pressure but not all are responding the same way,” said Nick Araco Jr., CEO and founder of The CFO Alliance. “While headlines continue to focus on large enterprises tearing up forecasts and scrambling to recalibrate, midmarket and emerging enterprise CFOs are demonstrating a very different mindset, one rooted in proactive planning, operational discipline and strategic flexibility.”

Finance teams are also aiming to improve their focus on operations, survey data shows. The top priority cited was scenario planning and financial modeling (40%), followed by liquidity and working capital management (29%) and cost optimization (16%). The data likely reflects a focus on fundamentals as CFOs prepare for a possibly prolonged period of instability, a task CFOs at large companies with extensive experience have said never goes away.

Beyond immediate operational changes, many CFOs are planning for longer-term challenges as well. Nearly half of the respondents expect U.S. trade and tariff instability to continue for at least another six months, with some anticipating volatility well into next year. While nearly 7 in 10 (69%) are still evaluating their 2025 talent strategies, only a small percentage have enacted hiring freezes or layoffs, a tactic that some large companies have already begun implementing.