After a year marked by persistent volatility, CFOs entered 2026 with renewed confidence and a clearer sense of where their attention is most needed.

Confidence among North American CFOs climbed to its highest level since 2021, according to Deloitte’s 4Q25 CFO Signals survey, suggesting a greater willingness to lean into calculated risk.

As the year heads into the second quarter, finance leaders are focused on how to translate that momentum into strategic advantage, even as uncertainty remains a defining characteristic of the current business environment.

Leaning into strategic leadership

The CFO role continues to expand in both remit and influence, stretching beyond financial stewardship to increasingly encompass a growing set of skills related to enterprise-wide decision-making and long-term value creation.

Deloitte’s 2026 Finance Trends report underscores this shift: 57% of finance leaders are at the helm of shaping enterprise strategy for their organizations. These strategy-influencing leaders also report managing 20% more responsibilities than their non-strategy influencing peers, reflecting the broadening scope of expectations placed on finance leaders today.  

Technology — particularly artificial intelligence — has become an enabler of CFOs’ expanded mandate with digital transformation of finance ranking as their top priority in 2026, according to Deloitte’s 4Q25 CFO Signals Spotlight article. This emphasis extends to talent strategy, as today’s finance leaders increasingly look to digital and automated solutions to address productivity constraints and create opportunities for more strategic work. In fact, nearly half of CFOs say automating processes to free employees to do higher value work is also a top priority this year.

Together, these findings indicate that CFOs are using technology not simply to modernize their finance operations, but to elevate the function’s strategic contribution across the entire organization.

AI gains ground in finance, but ROI lags

Building on last year’s momentum, AI remains at the top of the finance agenda in 2026. Eighty-seven percent of CFOs surveyed in Deloitte’s 4Q25 CFO Signals Spotlight predict AI will be either very or extremely important to their finance operations in the year ahead. Still, while many finance leaders are continuing to experiment with AI, only a minority are seeing clear, measurable value from their investments, suggesting that CFOs will need to place greater emphasis on realizing returns on AI investments this year.

Among the 63% of respondents to Deloitte’s 2026 Finance Trends report who say their organization has fully deployed AI solutions, only 21% believe those investments have delivered tangible value to date, and just 14% have fully integrated AI agents directly into the finance function. This gap between implementation and impact is shaping how CFOs envision the next phase of AI maturity.

As the year progresses, CFOs’ focus will likely shift decisively from experimentation to execution. CFOs are increasingly prioritizing use cases that demonstrably reduce workloads and improve decision-making. In fact, more than half (54%) of Signals respondents say integrating AI agents into finance will be a top finance transformation priority in 2026, alongside efforts to strengthen data quality, access and usability (52%).

AI’s role in finance is now about providing value. CFOs that align technology investments with clearly defined outcomes will likely be best positioned to translate innovation into measurable performance gains.

Freeing up, equipping finance teams

Productivity and efficiency gains remain top areas of focus for CFOs. Deloitte’s 4Q25 CFO Signals survey shows that finance leaders are hyper-focused on digital transformation as a primary lever for improving performance, with many leaders prioritizing automation to free up talent for higher value activities and support more agile decision-making.

At the same time, CFOs recognize that technology alone isn’t enough to move the needle — staff needs to upskill in parallel. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of respondents cite technical skills as their top talent development priority, reinforcing the importance of equipping finance teams to work effectively alongside advanced tools and analytics first identified in the 1Q25 CFO Signals report.

Cost discipline also continues to shape their agenda. Nearly half of CFOs say they plan to use AI to identify cost-reduction opportunities, demonstrating how CFOs are taking a pragmatic approach to efficiency that balances near-term financial pressures with long-term transformation goals. In 2026, productivity gains will increasingly come from the intersection of technology, talent and disciplined execution.

Challenges ahead

After the unpredictability of 2025, the path forward for finance leaders will assuredly not be without complexity. Still, CFOs entered 2026 with greater confidence, sharper strategic focus, and a clearer sense of how the finance department can drive organizational value.

Armed with the lessons of the past and tools of the future, CFOs are positioning themselves to navigate this year’s headwinds and tailwinds — all while shaping what comes next.