Finance leaders are being called upon to do more than manage the numbers: They’re expected to interpret and guide their organizations through periods of disruptions and increased complexity. The pressure on finance teams to respond quickly and strategically is especially intense in uncertain environments; they must operate as agile, forward-looking business partners, capable of supporting decisions in real time.

At a roundtable in Boston hosted by the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) and Robert Half, finance leaders from various industries shared how instability is playing out differently depending on industry, business model and company size.

For some, the challenge is physical and immediate. One organization shared how rising costs and unpredictable equipment availability forced them to abandon plans for a major U.S.-based infrastructure project and relocate it to Europe. Another, from a tourism-related business, noted a steep decline in international travel, leading to reduced demand and pressure on revenues. Others reported that clients are slow-rolling or canceling contracts altogether, making it harder to forecast revenue or plan headcount.

Some finance leaders reported that they are struggling to secure capital as investors grow cautious and capital markets tighten, restricting growth. And for some, uncertainty isn’t economic at all: One participant emphasized the increasing impact of extreme weather events and natural disasters on their operations, supply chain and insurance costs.

"To stay nimble in times of uncertainty, organizations must empower finance leaders to interpret change in real time — turning disruption into strategic insight and enabling decisions that keep the business resilient, responsive, and ready for what's next,” said John Bresnahan, Director, Robert Half. “Equally critical is building and maintaining relationships across the business as well as externally to stay ahead of emerging trends, challenges, and shifting skill demands — because in times of change, connection can be a competitive advantage."

Creating agility and resilience for the company

In the face of these varied and fast-moving challenges, finance leaders aren’t standing still. Instead, they’re adjusting their playbooks — rethinking how they plan, communicate, analyze and lead. While no single tactic can eliminate uncertainty, these actions help organizations stay agile, preserve resources and make smarter decisions under pressure. Following are six strategic ways in which roundtable participants are acting to meet the uncertainty of our economy in real time.

1. Cash Is King

Why it matters: “Cash is king,” an adage the pros in the room often quoted. You simply have more options when your liquidity is secure. In times of uncertainty, organizations need immediate visibility into cash flow and access to capital to absorb shocks, fund priorities and avoid reactive cuts.

What peers are doing: Roundtable participants’ companies are shortening cash forecasting cycles, conducting daily or weekly cash reviews, and tightening working capital management. “You don’t want to get too far out over your skis,” said one participant, and invest or spend more than you can confidently afford.

There are two decidedly different approaches to debt. On one side, you have companies seeking to buffer their balance sheet by issuing debt to have cash on hand. On the other side, you have companies that are avoiding debt due to the uncertainty of their cash flows — what if they don’t have the cash to cover principal and interest payments?

Raising capital is a serious challenge right now, particularly for companies in the growth stage, as investment firms are placing more restrictive requirements on funding. Some venture-stage companies are choosing to raise more expensive equity capital rather than taking on debt, due to concerns about the burden of repaying principal and interest — especially as rates continue to rise.

2. Increase Planning

Why it matters: In an unpredictable environment, fixed annual plans quickly become obsolete, making it essential to create plans with more frequency and flexibility.

What peers are doing: Many have initiated a much more robust exercise of scenario planning to test different economic outcomes — but beware of the law of diminishing returns. Business leaders can dream up infinite potential scenarios, but finance has limited time to address them. “We were asked to run scenarios for products we have not created for customers we don’t yet have,” said one roundtable participant, who had to organize the process and say no to some requests.

Others are running sensitivity analyses on their P&L. One way is to separate the backlog of secured work from potential future projects, then applying probability-based adjustments to model different scenarios to estimate how likely that future work is to happen. The strategy incorporated by other practitioners involves tracking and projecting cash flow more often and in more detail — breaking it down by specific categories, time periods or business units, or incorporating external data such as market trends.

3. Increase Communication and Coordination

Why it matters: When you’re operating under rapidly changing conditions, alignment across departments is crucial. Finance can't operate in isolation — it must serve as a central hub that receives real-time input and shares up-to-date consolidated outlooks to support informed, unified decision-making across the organization.

What peers are doing: Finance teams are partnering closely with business units to better understand their spending and priorities. They’re also holding more frequent check-ins with department heads to ensure all parts of the business are using the same assumptions and directives and stay on the same page.

A big piece of this comes back to the CFO and how well they’re managing expectations. “They have to be the chief reality officer,” said one finance leader. Setting false hopes and announcing unsupported numbers doesn’t serve anyone in the organization. This will likely require backchannel conversations where leaders may share what they would loath to say publicly: how difficult things are.

4. Lower Expenses and Increase Spend Controls

Why it matters: Cost control is a go-to lever in uncertain times, but indiscriminate cuts can do more harm than good in the long term. The goal is to reduce spending without eroding core capabilities or future growth.

What peers are doing: “Control the controllable costs,” said one roundtable participant. In other words, prioritize value-based budgeting and implement spend caps for non-essential categories. Some are renegotiating with suppliers, trying to achieve concessions such as discounts on pricing, extended payment terms, waived fees and a lower cost for reduced service levels. Other companies are hiring third-party experts to renegotiate vendor contracts, with fee structures based on a share of the savings. As several participants stated, this is also the time to tighten spending controls and ensure the finance team is in alignment from the top down.

Some organizations are selling off parts of the business, which may include the divestment of non-core business units, selling real estate or equipment, or shutting down divisions that require ongoing investment with limited returns. They may be resorting to compensation cuts, such as eliminating merit increases, bonuses and deferred compensation and cutting temporary employees.

Additionally, some companies are demonstrating a “risk off” approach. This involves shifting some of the risk to third parties via insurance (or reinsurance) contracts and restructured contracts with vendors or customers that trade away some upside in project return in exchange for downside protection against losses.

5. Deeper Analysis and Modeling

Why it matters: In uncertain environments, deeper financial analysis provides the clarity leaders need to make informed and confident decisions and avoid surprises.

What peers are doing: “Make sure you’re confident in your models,” advised one finance leader. “You may need to retune them to reflect differing market conditions.” Others are focused on developing metrics and early indicators of financial health such as revenue, grants, leads and conversion rates.

Another finance leader advised prioritizing your best customers rather than trying to service all customers. This can be done by conducting a profitability analysis that focuses on the best products or highest-margin accounts, business scale or strategic importance. Others said they’re changing their investment criteria to re-rank their investment portfolio by increasing weightings for shorter payback projects or adding more rigor to capex analysis diligence — is this the right market? Will we really get this margin?

6. Don’t Freeze — Have a Plan

Why it matters: Uncertainty can cause paralysis — but doing nothing is often the riskiest move. Having a plan, even one that evolves, builds confidence and gives teams a starting point for action.

What peers are doing: “You have to study and plan,” said one finance leader. Develop contingency plans and “what-if” playbooks and create predefined response strategies tied to key triggers (e.g., revenue falling below a certain threshold). A lack of action could be the right call, but it should come from an informed position.

And “make sure you don’t starve the business,” said another finance leader. Continue investing in areas that drive long-term value, such as digital services and automation, and rebuild your data infrastructure to support smarter, faster decisions.