New York – September 28, 2026 -- CFO confidence in North America climbed back into "high" territory in the third quarter, with Deloitte's CFO Confidence Score rising to 6.1 from 5.9 in Q2, even as finance chiefs grew warier of technology and cybersecurity threats.
Company optimism holds firm despite muted economic outlook
Ninety percent of surveyed CFOs said they remain optimistic about their own companies' financial prospects, according to Deloitte's Q326 CFO Signals report. Only 37.5% rated the current North American economy favorably, underscoring a gap between firm-level confidence and broader macro sentiment.
Technology deployment and cybersecurity top CFO concern lists
Fifty percent of CFOs cited technology deployment, including generative AI, as their most pressing internal challenge. An equal share, 50%, ranked cybersecurity as their top external concern, marking technology risk as the dominant theme of the quarter.
Risk appetite cools as fewer CFOs favor bold moves
The share of CFOs who said now is a good time to take greater risks fell to 53%, down from 59% in the prior quarter. Financing conditions remained comparatively attractive, with 55% of CFOs calling equity financing appealing and 50% saying the same of debt financing.
Growth forecasts diverge across revenue, hiring and wages
CFOs projected revenue growth of 4.6% and capital expenditure growth of 4.3% over the next 12 months, both modestly above Q2 expectations. Forecasts for earnings, dividends, domestic wages and salaries, and domestic hiring all declined from the previous quarter.
Survey scope covers 200 finance chiefs at billion-dollar companies
Deloitte polled 200 North American finance executives at companies with at least $1 billion in revenue between Aug. 24 and Sept. 8, 2026. The CFO Confidence Score, introduced in Q2 2025, runs on a 1-to-10 scale, with 8 to 10 denoting very high confidence.