Dive Brief:
- Most CFOs (90%) at large companies became more optimistic in the third quarter regarding their firm’s prospects, a recent survey by Deloitte found. Finance leaders’ confidence in the overall economic and business climate rose into the “high” range (6.1) from the medium range (5.9) reported in the second quarter, despite having a measured assessment of the overall economy, according to Deloitte’s latest quarterly CFO Signals report.
- Just over half (53%) of the 200 CFOs at North American companies valued over $1 billion surveyed indicated they were willing to take greater risks. While that level of risk tolerance was greater than the two-year average of 51.7%, it represented a decline from 59% in Q2.
- Equity and debt financing attractiveness remained relatively steady in Q3, despite a large majority (83%) of CFOs stating they considered the U.S. equity market to be overvalued — a sentiment that rose 34% from Q2, the report stated.
Dive Insight:
The cautious but relatively rosy outlook among CFOs aligns with other recent gauges of executive sentiment.
The CFOs surveyed “continue to express strong confidence in their own organizations despite mixed views of the broader economic landscape, indicating they may trust their own preparedness more than they trust the market environment,” the Deloitte report stated.
Similarly, the Business Roundtable’s Q3 CEO Economic Outlook index found 83% of 174 CEOs surveyed projected their company’s sales would increase over the next six months, according to the latest report — a rate that was consistent with Q2. Likewise, 52% anticipated their company’s U.S. capital spending would increase over the next six months, representing a 2% increase from the previous quarter.
In another example, a CFO survey from the Federal Reserve Banks of Richmond and Atlanta and Duke University found U.S. finance leaders remained broadly optimistic about the economy in the third quarter, though smaller companies reported weaker outlooks, CFO Dive previously reported.
Deloitte’s confidence score measures CFO confidence in economic conditions and capital markets based on their responses to five current and future business environment survey questions.
The CFOs were less sanguine about North America’s economic prospects. Just 37.5% of respondents rated the current North American economy favorably — a rate that has remained steady since Q2, but was lower than the 41% who indicated favorable sentiments in Q1. The existing economic outlook figure however, was significantly higher than the rate of just 19% a year ago in Q3 2025.
In addition, just under half of CFOs (46.5%) expect improvements in the North American economy in the next 12 months, the report stated. That view has steadily dimmed over the course of the year, down from 64% in Q1, but was significantly higher than the trough of just about one-third (34%) of respondents having a favorable one-year-outlook in Q3 2025.
With regard to the biggest risks executives are facing, half of the CFOs surveyed indicated cybersecurity topped their external risks list, followed by nearly half who pointed to the economy (49%), inflation (48%), and supply chain disruption (47%). Forty one percent indicated geopolitics and interest rates posed big challenges as well.
