Deloitte CFO Signals™: CFO Optimism Rises in Q3 2025 Despite Worries About Key Global Economies

News provided by

Deloitte LLP

Oct 01, 2025, 05:52 ET

NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2025 /PRNewswire/ --

What:

Deloitte's Q325 CFO Signals Report

Who:

Steve Gallucci, national leader of Deloitte's CFO Program

When:

October 1, 2025

Where:

https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/topics/leadership/cfo-survey-data-
dashboard.html

Details:

Deloitte's latest CFO Signals™ report — a quarterly survey of North America's leading
chief financial officers — finds that CFOs remain mostly pessimistic about current
and future global economic conditions. Despite the lack of enthusiasm, CFOs are
substantially more enthusiastic about the prospects for their own organizations than
they were three months ago. Available Oct. 1 on the CFO Signals dashboard, the Q3
results also reveal CFOs' expectation for their businesses' revenues and earnings for
the coming year — and the risks that concern them the most.

Highlights from the report:

CFO confidence score came in at 5.7, slightly up from last quarter's 5.4 reading.
Economy still viewed cautiously. Just 19% of CFOs view North America's current economy as "good," a slight decrease from last quarter's 23%.
Growth signals strengthened, with CFOs raising forecasts for revenue, earnings, dividends, capital expenditures, domestic hiring and salaries/wages.
Risk appetite remains muted. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of CFOs believe now is not a good time to take greater risks.
Top external risks: inflation (50%), followed by cybersecurity and interest rates.
Top internal risks: talent (51%), efficiency/productivity (50%), and cost management (47%).
Sentiment about the capital markets remained split: 20% of respondents view equity markets as extremely undervalued; 22% say they're extremely overvalued.

Scale: Introduced in Q2 2025, the new metric measures CFO "confidence" in economic conditions, risk taking and other confidence factors. The maximum score is XX.

Why it matters:
This quarterly report is a barometer of CFO sentiment and forward-looking strategies. In an environment demanding both caution and clarity, Deloitte's CFO Signals offers insight into how the stewards of corporate strategy are thinking, investing, and planning for what's next.

About Deloitte
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SOURCE Deloitte LLP