McKinsey recently held its 24th annual Global CFO Forum, an exclusive gathering that brought together about 100 finance chiefs from over 30 countries representing some of the world’s largest organizations. I spoke with Andy West, a senior partner at McKinsey and global co-leader of the firm’s Strategy and Corporate Finance practice, who shared key insights from the forum.

West conducted an informal poll, asking the CFOs whether the strategy function now reports to them. About two-thirds raised their hands. Five years ago, it would have been less than a third, he said.

“We are definitely in a new era,” West said. Beyond org charts, CFOs are increasingly central to navigating shifting competition, macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, and rapid technological disruption.

Market competition itself has intensified. McKinsey tracks what it calls a “shuffle rate,” or how frequently companies gain or lose market share within industries, he said. That rate has risen by about 50% across all industries since the mid-1990s, signaling faster turnover among winners and losers.

That heightened competitive pressure is also reshaping the CFO role. While finance chiefs have long led capital allocation and investor communication, they are increasingly expected to help determine where the company places its biggest long-term bets alongside the CEO.

AI is accelerating that evolution. “We’ve been talking about AI at this conference for a couple of years now,” West said. Last year, finance leaders were still experimenting with AI. This year, the conversation shifted decisively toward enterprise-wide transformation.

“AI is not a project, or a cost lever—it’s a new way of working,” he said. “CFOs are right at the front of it.”

Finance chiefs are now expected to quantify AI’s impact on performance, from customer operations to forecasting, while also helping lead adoption, West explained. In some cases, finance teams are acting as early adopters, using AI to improve forecasting, decision-making, and analytics.

There is still no consensus on how to evaluate AI investments. Companies are taking different approaches depending on their industry exposure and strategic priorities, weighing long-term costs such as token pricing, infrastructure, vendor dependence, capital allocation, and whether to diversify AI vendors.

“There’s a huge range on AI economics, and it really depends on what industry they’re in, how core it is to their business, and how bullish they are,” West said.

Talent remains top of mind in the age of AI. But within that, West said the bigger hurdle is often organizational transformation. “I think change management is the biggest piece,” he said. “As people actually are getting into real implementation of AI, they are realizing that the value does not come from taking away a task—it comes from fundamentally changing the way that you operate,” he said.

Despite these pressures, CFO sentiment remains notably optimistic. West said finance leaders expressed confidence not only in their companies but also in the broader role corporations can play in driving long-term economic growth.

That optimism coexists with near-term challenges. Growth is harder to achieve, competitive advantages are eroding faster, and strategy is becoming more difficult to execute. But periods of disruption also create opportunities to gain market share, placing CFOs at the center of critical investment decisions.

“It is the most exciting time to be a CFO,” West said. “They have more levers than ever to drive impact.”

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

Leaderboard

Will Mudd was promoted to CFO of Guardian Pharmacy Services (NYSE: GRDN), one of the nation's largest long-term care pharmacy companies. Mudd, who joined Guardian in 2012, was promoted to CFO after serving as senior vice president of finance, where he helped build Guardian's finance organization and played a key leadership role in the company's transition to the public markets. 

Matthew Hartzell was appointed CFO of Uniquity Bio, a clinical-stage drug development company. Hartzell most recently served as a VP in the Global Healthcare Group at Goldman Sachs. At the firm, he focused on helping biotechnology companies with their holistic growth strategies as well as their capital markets, M&A, and partnership transactions. 

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Overheard

"If you want to be great—you can’t put in an average or sub-average level of input and work ethic."

—Jim Kavanaugh, a former U.S. soccer player who represented the U.S. at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, told Fortune. Kavanaugh co-founded World Wide Technology, a Missouri-based technology giant that generates $20 billion in annual revenue as of 2025.