CFO Signals

Deloitte’s North American CFO Signals survey is a quarterly survey that captures the perspectives and actions of chief financial officers from some of North America’s largest and most influential businesses. The survey gauges CFO sentiment across a number of fronts, including the economy, capital markets, and the issues keeping them up at night.

FEATURED INSIGHT

CFO confidence dips in Q2

5.4

The CFO confidence score comes in at 5.4 for the second quarter of 2025, bringing it back into medium territory from its upswing in the first quarter.

Key Trends

CFO confidence score

CFO optimism dimmed in the second quarter of the year, with the CFO confidence score coming in at 5.4. That’s a decline from the 6.4 result in Q1.

Explore CFO confidence score

Assessment of regional economies

CFOs’ enthusiasm for the North American economy dwindled. A mere 23% rated the current economy as very good or good, well down from results in the previous six months. Other regional economies fared no better.

Explore the regional economies outlook

Own-company prospects and growth metrics

The survey found diminishing expectations among respondents for the future prospects for their organizations. How diminishing? Among other things, finance chiefs slashed their revenue forecasts from the previous quarter.

Explore own-company prospects and growth metrics

Risk appetite

If CFOs had been regaining their risk tolerance in recent quarters, the upswing came to an abrupt halt in Q2. Indeed, the survey found finance chiefs in a clearly more cautious, risk-averse mood.

Explore CFO risk appetite

Biggest internal and external risks

Notably, cybersecurity has been at or near the top of the list of CFOs’ most worrisome external risks for the second quarter in a row.

Explore internal and external risks

Capital markets in the latest quarter

Although the Fed has held steady on interest rates, CFOs’ increasingly see borrowing as a favorable way to raise funds. Well over half (53%) of respondents said debt financing is attractive—a considerable hike from the responses (18%) just a year ago.

Explore capital market insights

CFO confidence

What it measures: Overall CFO sentiment in the current quarter about economic and business conditions

KEY TAKEAWAY

After hitting its highest reading in 13 quarters in Q1 at 6.4, CFO optimism dropped to 5.4 in Q2, bringing the score back down into medium territory.

Filters

Choose data to filter

Confidence level

SELECTED FILTERS

Methodology Note

Deloitte’s CFO confidence score is a measure of overall CFO sentiment in the current quarter about economic and business conditions. In short, this formula averages the scores of the five current and five future business environment questions in the survey, and then discounts the US equity markets and equity financing conditions by 80%, and discounts debt-financing conditions by 50%. Scores are as follows: “very low” (1 to 3), “low” (3 to 5), “medium” (5 to 6), “high” (6 to 8), and “very high” (8 to 10). The typical range observed in the score for the last 20 quarters is between 4 and 7.