Where CFOs should focus as disruption reshapes business priorities

As disruption accelerates, CFOs must balance resilience, execution and transformation — responding to geopolitical risk, scaling AI and leading with clarity in an increasingly volatile environment.

In brief

• CFOs must treat geopolitical disruption as a core business issue, requiring constant monitoring and clearer prioritisation of risk across operations and markets. 
• Resilience, execution and strong foundations for AI are now critical, as organisations balance short-term pressures with long-term transformation priorities. 
• Success depends on leadership discipline, talent development and trust in systems and data, as the CFO role expands beyond financial stewardship. 

The conversation at this year’s CFO Summit, hosted by EY in partnership with the FT, centred on how external disruption and internal transformation are interacting to shape today’s CFO agenda. Business strategy is being driven by global pressures, evolving trade and technology dynamics, and more fragmented markets. Internally, organisations and their finance functions are adapting quickly, as AI, data and changing skills requirements reshape how work is done. Geopolitical uncertainty continues to intensify these pressures, bringing volatility that is harder to predict and more immediate in its impact on operations, costs and decision-making. The CFO remit has expanded beyond financial stewardship to include resilience, execution and organisational capability, with greater emphasis on building the capacity to operate amid sustained change and uncertainty.

1. Treat geopolitics as a business issue, not an external one
   
   Geopolitical disruption now shows up directly in operating decisions. Energy prices, supply chains, investment confidence, customer demand and technology can all be affected at the same time. For Ireland’s open economy, distant events can quickly become local business pressures.
   
   Finance leaders therefore need a clearer view of where the organisation is exposed, how those exposures interact, and which require action first. Constant monitoring is essential, alongside clear priorities and calm decision‑making under pressure.
   
   
2. Rebalance from efficiency to resilience
   
   Efficiency remains important, but it cannot stand alone. Risks now materialise faster, spread further and interact across markets and operations, pushing resilience higher up the CFO agenda.
   
   Resilience is about strengthening the parts of the business most exposed to disruption. It depends on understanding exposure early and acting with discipline across the organisation — for example, reducing concentration risk, strengthening supply chains, improving energy security or stress‑testing critical dependencies.
   
   
3. Focus on execution, not just investment
   
   In many cases, the constraint is no longer identifying where to invest, but delivering at pace. Capital allocation remains important, but execution is equally so.
   
   For CFOs, this means balancing immediate pressures with longer‑term priorities. In the near term, the focus is on maintaining control and protecting the business, while continuing to invest in longer‑term priorities. With competing demands, finance leaders need to prioritise carefully, sequence decisions and keep resources aligned to those priorities.
   
   
4. Treat AI as an operating reality
   
   AI has moved quickly from an emerging technology to being embedded across most organisations. It should now be treated as part of the operating environment, not as a side initiative.
   
   The opportunity is clear: greater productivity, faster analysis, better decision‑making and leaner processes. But the risks are also material. Technology and AI increase exposure, particularly around governance, cyber security and trust. For CFOs, the task is to move beyond experimentation and focus on where measurable value can be generated, which use cases are worth scaling, and what control frameworks are required.
   
   
5. Get the foundations right for AI
   
   AI ambition will only go so far without strong data and infrastructure. Fragmented data, weak architecture or legacy systems can undermine otherwise promising use cases.
   
   Sequencing is critical. The groundwork: infrastructure, data integrity and governance, needs to be in place before wider deployment. While this may slow initial progress, it is more likely to deliver sustained value than pursuing disconnected use cases without the right foundations.
   
   
6. Put talent at the centre of transformation
   
   Technology strategy remains fundamentally about people. As automation changes the shape of work, CFOs need to focus not only on efficiency, but on how roles evolve, how teams are organised and how skills develop.
   
   Digital capability is essential, but so are communication, judgement, critical thinking and customer understanding. As data becomes more integrated, organisations will also require less rigid silos and greater cross‑functional collaboration.
   
   
7. Lead with clarity, discipline and trust
   
   In a more fragmented and volatile environment, advantage comes from preparation, coordination and the ability to respond. CFOs do not need to react to every signal, but they do need to distinguish noise from material risk and act accordingly.
   
   Under these conditions, trust becomes more important — in leadership, in systems, in data and in how technology is used. In periods of uncertainty, it is easier to lose and harder to rebuild. For finance leaders, this has direct implications for decision‑making, operations and stakeholder confidence.
   
   In a fast-moving environment, the CFO role continues to broaden. The challenge is no longer only to manage performance, but to help the organisation absorb shocks, make better decisions and maintain momentum. That requires discipline in the near term, resilience over time, and a willingness to act before conditions are fully settled.

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