Key Takeaways

  • A BDO survey found that about half of CFOs plan to strengthen their companies' supply chains this year in response to the threat of additional tariffs on a wide range of imported goods from the Trump administration.
  • "Even without the threat of new tariffs, supply chain planning remains a top priority for businesses in 2025," Eskander Yavar, national consulting management leader at BDO, told CFO Dive. The survey covered 500 CFOs in the U.S. and overseas.
  • 49% of CFOs intend to bring a financial perspective into supply chain strategy this year to adapt to supply chain impacts from "ongoing geopolitical tensions, extreme weather events, labor shortages," among others, Yavar said in an email response.

Dive Brief

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he could impose tariffs on imported cars, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors as early as April 5of 25%, but did not specify which countries would be targeted.

Trump said at apress conference"The tariffs will be 25% or higher, and they'll go up substantially over the course of a year, but we want to give them time, because you know, when they come into the United States and build a plant or facility, there are no tariffs."

Trump signed an executive order on Feb. 13 imposing reciprocal tariffs on all existing and potential trading partners. He has also set a 10% tariff on Chinese imports and plans to impose 25% import tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico as early as March 5.

"CFOs may now be more concerned about the cost pressures from new tariffs compared to when BDO conducted its survey in November," Yavar said. Even so, "CFOs remain optimistic about overall growth."

Citing survey data, Yavar said 72% of CFOs expect revenue to improve this year compared to 2024, and 52% expect profitability to increase.

The fourth-quarter earnings season so far has also reinforced this optimism, with S&P 500 companies reportingresults that beat expectations, according to FactSet data.

FactSet said S&P 500 companies saw earnings growth of 16.9% in the fourth quarter of 2024, with 77% of companies having reported results so far. The growth rate combines actual results from companies that have reported and estimates from those that have not.

"If 16.9% is the actual growth rate for the quarter, it would mark the highest year-over-year earnings growth rate reported by the index since the fourth quarter of 2021," John Butters, senior earnings analyst at FactSet, noted in a report.

BDO's survey of CFOs showed that 18% of CFOs expect profitability to grow by 10% to 25% this year, 34% expect growth of 1% to 9%, and 38% expect no change in profitability. Of these CFOs, 81% are based at companies headquartered in the U.S.