CFOs signal crucial role that technology will play in 2026

On paper, confidence appears to be rising among CFOs at large North American companies.

Beyond the paper trail, that confidence appears to be buoyed by belief in the transformative power of technology.

“Many CFOs are looking to advanced technologies — including AI and other automative tools — not only to improve efficiency within finance, but to help their organizations respond more quickly to changing market and customer dynamics,” said Steve Gallucci, national managing partner in Deloitte’s U.S. CFO Program and co-author of a report based on Deloitte’s quarterly CFO Signals survey. “In 2026, uncertainty will likely remain the new normal, but CFOs who laid the groundwork to take advantage of opportunities as they arise will likely be best positioned to thrive, regardless of the economic operating conditions.”

In the 2025 fourth-quarter survey of 200 finance chiefs at businesses in North America with at least $1 billion in annual revenues, the leaders registered an average CFO confidence score of 6.6, considered high on Deloitte’s scale and representing the highest reading in four years. CFO confidence was at 5.7 the previous quarter and at 5.8 in the fourth quarter of 2024.

CFOs’ collective belief in the positive impact that AI and other technology-related efforts can make on their companies shone through:

• A survey-high 50% named digital transformation of finance among their top three priorities for 2026, with 87% predicting that AI will be extremely or very important to their finance department’s operations in the coming year.
• Second among priorities was cash management optimization (45%). When asked to name their top priorities for finance talent in 2026, nearly half (49%) of the CFOs cited automating processes to free employees to do higher-value work — the most popular response to the question. Nearly half (49%) said their organizations would hire or promote internally in order to manage people costs in 2026 (the top response to that question).
• A survey-high 54% said integrating AI agents is among their top three finance transformation priorities in 2026, a list that included automating/accelerating financial processes (50%) and investing in technology infrastructure (48%) among the top four responses.

Beyond technology, many CFOs pointed to thinking outside the box — and outside their office walls — to stimulate growth in 2026. Nearly two-thirds (63%) said their organizations’ interest in undertaking acquisitions or mergers was significantly or somewhat greater than the previous year, up from 55% one year ago. Deloitte’s 2026 M&A Trends Survey found that 90% of dealmakers at private-equity firms and 80% at corporations expect an increase in the number of deals they close in the coming year.

— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Bryan Strickland at Bryan.Strickland@aicpa-cima.com.