Deloitte CFO Survey: 2026 Q3

The quarterly Deloitte CFO Survey has been gauging sentiment and balance-sheet strategies among the UK’s largest businesses since 2007.

Key findings

• Geopolitics has topped the CFO risk list for more than three years
• CFOs expect inflation and interest rates to rise as the cost of credit hits a two-and-a-half-year high
• Cost reduction remains CFOs' top business priority, with expansionary strategies losing favour
• 67% of finance chiefs believe their organisations are around a quarter of the way through their AI adoption, while over a third expect AI to boost their businesses’ margins over the next 12 months

Darren Graves, Deloitte UK CEO, added: “While CFOs are facing an uncertain economic environment, they are increasingly confident in AI’s potential to drive productivity and performance. Capturing that potential will take more than adopting new technology. The organisations that thrive will be those that consciously shape how AI is used, combining its power and speed with human judgement, experience and trust. The opportunity is not simply to automate today’s work, but to rethink how work gets done, strengthen decision-making and create new sources of growth.”

Explore the data

Download the PDF to access all the historical data series from the Deloitte CFO Survey. Data from the CFO Survey is also hosted on LSEG Datastream, Bloomberg, Factset and Macrobond. Please feel free to use any of the data series in your documents or presentations.

Email Thomas Avis to receive a copy of our spreadsheet containing our CFO Survey data.