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Protiviti's latest global finance trends survey reveals that data security and privacy remain the primary concern for CFOs for the third straight year, with AI ranking sixth but showing significant upward momentum. The survey also finds that finance organizations still face challenges in measuring AI return on investment, with only 1% of respondents believing AI is driving major business transformation.

Deloitte reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, agreeing to pay $21.5 million to resolve allegations that its DEI programs violated federal anti-discrimination requirements. The DOJ stated that between January 2017 and August 2026, Deloitte set non-public goals based on race and gender in hiring, promotion, and staffing, and provided training and development opportunities targeted at specific groups. Deloitte denies the allegations and does not admit liability. The whistleblower organization, America First Legal, will receive $4.3 million.

A survey of 400 US and UK CFOs, commissioned by workforce solutions provider Safeguard Global and conducted by Censuswide, revealed that all respondents estimated incurring losses due to compliance risks during global expansion, with 22% estimating losses of at least one million dollars. Although 97% of respondents expressed interest in global hiring, only 22% planned to conduct international recruitment within the next six months.

Deloitte's Q2 2026 CFO Signals survey shows that 96.5% of North American CFOs have at least some confidence in AI governance frameworks, but only 40% express strong confidence. 53.5% of respondents are only 'somewhat confident,' reflecting governance complexity. The survey also found that 51% of CFOs cite lack of governance authority as a primary challenge, with cost uncertainty (46%) and external risks (such as litigation at 43% and cybersecurity at 41%) also prominent.

The quarterly economic confidence index jointly released by ACCA and IMA shows a reading of -26.5 for the second quarter of 2026, improving from -39.5 in the first quarter, but still well below the historical median. During the survey period, 83% of CFO respondents reported rising costs, with economic pressure surpassing geopolitical issues as the primary risk.

Artificial intelligence is profoundly impacting corporate office space strategies. A survey of 1,000 CEOs and CFOs in the US and UK, conducted by Censuswide for the International Workplace Group, shows that 60% of respondents believe AI increases the difficulty of predicting office space demand over the next two years, 73% say technological changes reduce their willingness to sign long-term leases, and 99.8% are shifting real estate costs from fixed to variable. Meanwhile, a JLL survey of 2,200 executives across 21 countries finds that only 15% have entered the proactive AI optimization stage, with the majority still in a wait-and-see or analysis phase.

According to a survey commissioned by Avalara and conducted by Censuswide, the vast majority of CFOs (92%) face pressure to demonstrate ROI from agentic AI, with 71% indicating that the pressure primarily stems from deployment speed. However, only 7% of finance leaders believe their organizations prioritize governance over speed, and this figure drops to just 4% among U.S. respondents. The survey also found that 30% of respondents said their organizations had not updated internal controls in the past year to reflect the actions of AI agents, and 44% expressed only some confidence in explaining AI agent behavior to auditors or regulators.