Fifty-nine percent of executives reported reduced demand from existing customers among the top three greatest external risks to their organisation’s growth performance in 2025, according to Gartner.

They name accelerated inflation (52%) and insufficient organic growth opportunities (50%) among their top performance risks as concerns about constrained supply of inputs and potential foreign market access restrictions take hold.

To address these challenges, CFOs should adopt a proactive, catalyst-oriented approach, moving beyond traditional cost-cutting and reactive decision-making. The three key strategies are:

1. Redirect spending for differentiation: CFOs should educate executive teams and boards on the realities of the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) economy and shift spending away from commoditised costs toward assets and capabilities that drive true competitive advantage. “CFOs should be looking to invest in scale by focusing on fewer industries, key geographic markets and core products and services that differentiate their organisation from competitors, while seeking to avoid unprofitable expansion,” said Rathindran.
2. Build a cost-conscious culture: Rather than relying on episodic, finance-driven cost cuts, CFOs must foster a culture of sustained cost efficiency. This involves multimodel budgeting for greater transparency, empowering business leaders to make cost decisions, and implementing incentives that reward cost optimisation and reinvestment in growth. “The most successful organisations in difficult economic times do not make unsustainable knee-jerk cost cuts that fail to deliver lasting results,” said Rathindran. “Successful CFOs achieve sustainable cost reduction by continually fostering greater accountability among business leaders through improved budgeting, incentives, and finance partnership
3. ”Enable rapid adaptation through scenario planning: To counter decision paralysis, CFOs should integrate scenario planning and tariff modelling into processes, allowing for agile responses to policy changes and external shocks. Engaging with policy partners and conducting location-specific risk assessments will furth strengthen organisational resilience. “Traditional, linear planning is too rigid to be useful in a highly volatile environment,” said Rathindran. “Gaming out various financial scenarios helps organisations to be ready for disruptions and trade restrictions and stay agile in the face of constant change.”

“Approximately three quarters of executives are recalibrating their top-line growth expectations down since the start of the year,” said Randeep Rathindran, Distinguished VP, Research in the Gartner Finance practice.

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“However, a lot of the trends slowing growth – such as tepid demand growth, high input costs and expensive capital – have been present for much longer.”