SPECIAL EDITION
Jan 1, 2026
2025 forced CFOs into a higher-difficulty version of the same job: keep the business steady while the rules, signals, and risks kept shifting live.
Rates moved, but inflation did not fully behave.
Hiring cooled, but the labor story stayed messy.
Tariff policy stayed fluid, yet pricing pressure felt permanent.
Regulators changed seats, audit oversight got political, and AI.... well, you know what happened with AI.
So instead of a lecture, here’s a recap built the only way CFOs actually process a year like this.
As questions.
MONETARY POLICY / MACRO
The Fed cut rates three times in 2025. Did that restore confidence, or just change the argument?
The Fed spent the year trying to balance inflation control with maximum employment, then cut rates multiple times as labor softness became harder to ignore.
Questions for CFOs:
If inflation stays sticky while the job market weakens, what does “good” monetary policy even look like in 2026?
Are we entering an era where “2% inflation” is still the target, but not the reality anyone prices against?
Did rate cuts make planning easier, or just shift the debate from “when to cut” to “how fast do we break something”?
If macro data quality gets distorted again (shutdowns, measurement gaps), are CFOs back to running the business on vibes plus internal leading indicators?
TRADE / TARIFFS / PRICING
Tariffs turned into a forecasting problem, not just a policy headline
Tariffs and trade posture stayed fluid, and CFOs increasingly treated tariff-driven price pressure as something that could persist into 2026.
Questions CFOs should be asking now:
Are tariffs becoming a semi-permanent input cost, like insurance or energy, rather than a temporary shock?
How many companies used “tariffs” as cover for pricing that had nothing to do with tariffs?
Do you hedge this risk operationally (supplier shifts, inventory strategy), or politically (lobbying, lawsuits, refund strategies)?
If tariff policy can change fast, should CFOs stop treating it like a scenario and start treating it like a baseline?
REGULATION / GOVERNANCE
Deregulation sounds simple until you price the second-order effects
A deregulatory posture, leadership shifts at key agencies, and continuing uncertainty around audit oversight shaped how finance leaders thought about compliance and disclosure risk.
Questions CFOs should be asking now:
Does deregulation actually reduce cost, or does it just move the cost into litigation, activism, and reputational risk?
If enforcement posture changes by administration, how do you plan compliance without whiplash?
Are CFOs underestimating how much “lighter regulation” can raise the cost of capital if trust declines?
AUDIT / PCAOB
The PCAOB survived. But the bigger question is whether audit oversight is now political volatility
The auditor watchdog got a Senate lifeline, yet the debate around its future did not disappear.
Questions CFOs should be asking now:
If the audit watchdog’s existence gets debated every year, does that weaken audit credibility long-term?
Would a weaker PCAOB environment reduce friction, or increase investor skepticism and insurance costs?
Are finance teams preparing for a world where audit standards become a political football instead of a stable operating constraint?
AI / POLICY / COMPLIANCE
The “AI laws” fight proved one thing, the rules are not settled, and they might never be
A proposed moratorium on state AI laws failed, meaning the patchwork problem stayed alive.
Questions CFOs should be asking now:
Is a state-by-state AI landscape actually bad, or does it create mini sandboxes where smarter companies gain advantage faster?
If the rules keep shifting, do CFOs slow AI deployment, or move faster to build internal controls before regulators do it for them?
Who owns AI compliance, finance, legal, IT, or whoever gets blamed first?
Brought to you by..
Valuation, Not Just Revenue
Many founders still assume revenue equals valuation. CFOs know better.
Matteo Turi FCCA (CFO, board director, and advisor on $500M+ in capital raises) has built a practical framework that explains what investors actually underwrite: transferable value.
His High Valuation Code breaks valuation down into three levers CFOs can influence directly:
IP monetization
Succession and governance depth
Scalable, repeatable expansion models
The framework is built from real transactions across SaaS, healthcare, energy, and infrastructure; not startup folklore.
If you’re advising founders, preparing for capital raises, or thinking beyond top-line growth, it’s worth reviewing.
AI / TALENT / OPERATING MODEL
AI spending rose. But the awkward truth is that ROI still looks unclear for many teams
AI kept evolving, budgets kept moving, and companies started using AI language to justify workforce reshaping.
Questions CFOs should be asking now:
Is “AI ROI” real, or are we calling any automation win “AI” to keep budgets alive?
If companies say AI is for growth, why do so many announcements still look like cost cutting in disguise?
Are we building finance teams that can govern AI, or just buying tools and hoping controls magically appear?
And the contrarian one CFOs rarely say out loud:
What if AI does not reduce headcount much, but permanently raises the expectation of output per employee?
TALENT / CPA PIPELINE / LICENSING
States started easing CPA requirements. Is that a fix, or a slow-motion identity crisis for the profession?
New York signed a CPA licensing bill, joining a growing group of states easing education requirements to address the shortage.
Questions CFOs should be asking now:
Are we lowering the bar, or removing a barrier that never predicted quality in the first place?
If the 150-hour model weakens, what replaces it, apprenticeship pathways, employer-led training, stronger exams?
If audit and tax talent gets easier to access, do fees come down, or does demand still outrun supply?
Are CFOs willing to invest in training again, or will they keep expecting plug-and-play seniors who do not exist?
THE CFO JOB IN 2026
The real story of 2025 is that CFOs were forced to run finance like a navigation system, not a reporting function
2025 made one thing obvious: finance leaders were managing macro, policy, risk, tech, and talent at the same time, with less stable external guidance than usual.
Questions CFOs should be asking now:
Are CFOs becoming the default “risk integrator” because nobody else has the full view?
Should finance own scenario planning permanently, even when times feel calm?
If volatility is the baseline, is the real competitive advantage speed, not precision?
THE 2025 RECAP, IN 10 QUESTIONS
If you remember nothing else, remember these:
Did rate cuts make planning easier, or just change what you argued about?
Are tariffs now a permanent pricing input, not a temporary policy shock?
Does deregulation reduce cost, or shift cost into litigation and trust loss?
If audit oversight becomes political, does the cost of capital quietly rise?
Is the patchwork of AI laws a compliance nightmare, or a competitive filter?
Are AI investments building capabilities, or just re-labeling automation?
Are “AI job cuts” real strategy, or messaging for investors?
Is easing CPA licensing a smart pipeline fix, or a credibility risk?
Are CFOs now the de facto owner of enterprise risk whether they like it or not?
If volatility is the baseline, does speed beat accuracy in 2026?