90% of CFOs are bullish on their own companies. 33% think the economy is bad. Deloitte's Q2 2026 survey captures the mindset defining finance leadership right now.

Deloitte's Q2 2026 CFO Signals survey of 200 North American finance chiefs found that 33% of respondents said the economy in North America is bad, compared to only 5% who felt this way in Q1. Meanwhile, 90% said they are significantly or somewhat more optimistic about the future financial prospects of their own company. Deloitte calls it a "paradox of promise versus pessimism." I think it is something more useful than a paradox. It is a description of what good CFOs actually do.

"The macroeconomic outlook has dipped for two consecutive quarters," said Ed Hardy, U.S. finance services leader at Deloitte. "But at the same time, CFOs' confidence in their own ability to execute strategy and navigate challenges is as strong as it's been in several quarters." Hardy added something that stuck with me: "They've built the muscle." The CFOs holding bearish macro views and bullish company views simultaneously are not in denial. They are operating from a foundation of capability they built before the uncertainty arrived.

CFOs are moving, not waiting

Despite concerns about market valuations, 59% of CFOs think now is a good time to take calculated risks, up from 48% last quarter, including accessing debt markets and raising capital. The CFOs who spent the last 18 months tightening their balance sheets, cleaning up cost structures, and building scenario planning capabilities now have the optionality to move when others are frozen. That is what preparation looks like in a volatile environment.

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Talent is the real pressure point

Talent ranked as the top risk factor in the survey, cited by 51% of CFOs, higher than any other internal or external concern, including inflation and AI governance. That number surprised me, and I think it should surprise more people. We are in the middle of the largest AI deployment wave in enterprise software history, and the thing CFOs are most worried about is not the technology. It is the people. Hiring, retaining, and upskilling a workforce that can work alongside AI systems, validate outputs, and manage risk in an environment where the tools change every quarter is genuinely hard. Finance leaders know it.

Finance functions are being forced to rethink their workforce mix. Alongside traditional accounting expertise, companies are beginning to integrate new roles such as prompt engineers and AI specialists. But the need for experienced finance professionals remains critical, particularly as humans are responsible for validating AI outputs and managing risk. The CFO who builds that hybrid team, technical enough to use the tools and experienced enough to know when to distrust them, will have a structural advantage that does not show up on a balance sheet but absolutely shows up in performance.