CFOs and other senior finance executives are feeling less optimistic about their business expansion plans as tariff worries increase in the U.S. and other parts of the world, according to a new survey.
The survey, released Tuesday by Brex, polled over 500 senior finance executives at global enterprises in the first quarter of the year, and found optimism falling off sharply in recent months when it comes to growth.
“Strong early-in-the-year optimism around growth, IPOs and M&As eroded sharply post-tariffs, with growth positivity alone dropping nearly 20 points,” wrote Brex president and CFO Ben Gammell. “Expansion plans have been replaced with calls for stronger risk management frameworks, and leaders are delaying major moves not out of caution, but out of strategic patience. They’re quickly recognizing that moving fast doesn’t always mean moving first.”
Two-thirds (67%) of the finance leaders polled rank mitigating geopolitical instability as the top external concern for 2025. Amid the whiplash over tariff policy, business outlooks have shifted, with positivity about fundraising declining 25 points from 87% to 62%. Employment rates have similarly fallen 24 points from 91% to 67%. Global talent and hiring is also down 20 points from 92% to 72%, while company growth prospects have decreased 18 points from 93% to 75%.
The percentage of leaders who are feeling “significantly more bullish” on the IPO market has dropped from 29% to 18%, while those who are feeling “moderately more bullish” fell from 56% to 48%. Meanwhile, the percentage of CFOs who are feeling “moderately more bearish” doubled from 6% to 18%.
M&A outlook followed a similar pattern, with the percentage of significantly more bullish respondents declining from 40% to 22%, and those who are “moderately more bearish” respondents doubled from 8% to 16%.
Companies feel under pressure to do more with less, and CFOs need to step into more strategic, cross-functional roles, with 95% of the respondents saying their role extends beyond traditional finance, including AI and sales. Among the respondents, 86% of their organizations have a chief accounting officer, and nearly half were hired in the past year. However, only about 50% of finance leaders believe they have real control over where the money goes.
CFOs are consolidating tools, accelerating payments, and proving the return on investment of artificial intelligence as they streamline operations and scale global finance, Three-fourths (75%) of the finance leaders polled indicated they are feeling pressure to prove AI’s ROI, and 87% of finance leaders said their vendors should offer more services so they can consolidate their tech stack. Some 70% of the respondents feel their tools and software are too complex, 73% believe their expense and accounting processes are too manual, and 69% say they have too many financial vendors.
