As UK CFOs adopt a more defensive stance amid ongoing economic turbulence, the ripple effects are reshaping the role of accountants like never before. The latest Deloitte CFO Survey confirms what many in the industry have been feeling for months: finance leaders are prioritising cost control and taking fewer risks, with significant consequences for the workloads, responsibilities, and expectations placed on accounting teams.
The role of the accountant has traditionally been defined by numbers: recording transactions, ensuring compliance, and producing accurate reports. For decades, finance teams have been seen as the backbone of business operations, supporting decision-making with meticulous detail.
But in today’s rapidly shifting economic landscape, a major transformation is underway. With rising uncertainty, geopolitical tensions, and fluctuating market dynamics, many CFOs are adopting a more defensive posture. This strategic shift places accountants at the centre of a new and increasingly complex business landscape.
Accountants are no longer just responsible for keeping the books balanced and ensuring regulatory compliance. Instead, they are being called upon to provide strategic insight, forecast potential risks, and navigate the challenges of global supply chains, tariff changes, and economic volatility.
This shift is not just about surviving the challenges of today; it’s about rethinking the way accounting functions operate, driving innovation, and preparing for long-term growth. Accountants are being asked to do more with less, adapt to new technologies, and step up as leaders in their organisations. How are they responding?
The new defensive mindset
Across industries, finance teams are tightening their belts. Vineta Bajaj, CFO at European online grocer Rohlik Group and former Ocado Group finance leader, sees the change firsthand. She notes a clear shift toward prioritising risk mitigation and cost control, observing that “for accounting and finance teams, that means leaning more heavily into scenario planning and detailed forecasting.” As a result, Bajaj explains, accounting and finance teams are now more focused on proactively identifying risks as well as meticulously tracking expenditure.
Vipul Sheth, managing director at accountancy outsourcing specialist Advancetrack, echoes these concerns. He points to client pressures from rising energy and employee costs, stating that “there is significant pressure in many firms’ ability to raise fees.” In this environment, traditional growth strategies are increasingly replaced by careful financial management.
Accountants take the strategic stage
This defensive shift is propelling accountants beyond their historic compliance roles. As the need for forward-looking insights grows, finance teams are becoming core contributors to strategic planning.
Paul Lodder, VP of accounting product strategy at Dext, believes firms are already adapting by focusing heavily on real-time data, cash flow monitoring, and profitability tracking. “In today’s turbulent economic climate, this approach is becoming increasingly essential in empowering businesses to anticipate potential challenges, instead of simply reacting to them. Here, accountants play a critical role, helping businesses to develop detailed scenario plans that can be filed away, and resurfaced to be used as needed,” he says.
Similarly, Carsten Gerger, VP finance at CFO solutions platform Lucanet, stresses that accounting teams are now expected to deliver insights rather than just numbers. “Accountants are no longer just crunching the numbers – they’re now analysing the numbers in real time and offering insight into what those numbers mean for the future,” Gerger says.
In a volatile economic climate, this data-driven foresight is essential, whether it involves scenario modelling, risk assessment, or trade impact analysis. Group CFO of The CFO Centre Nevil Durrant highlights the practical realities of this shift. “Finance leaders are playing a more tactical role in supporting resilience efforts by regularly updating forecasts, stress testing financial assumptions, and advising on financing options such as debt factoring, renegotiating supplier terms or more favourable terms with their bank,” he says.
As CFOs pull the reins tighter on discretionary spending, accountants are having to dig deeper into financial detail – and faster.
Sheth notes that the level of scrutiny has intensified significantly. “I think organisations are probably adjusting workloads to place more of a focus on data analysis. When businesses are facing economic uncertainty, the devil is often in the details, so accountancy teams are the best people to provide real time financial reporting in order to keep an eye on cash flow,” he explains. The result is a higher workload, greater complexity, and increased demand for comprehensive and timely reporting.
With banks employing more complex modelling when assessing risk, accounting firms find themselves under pressure to support businesses through more intricate applications, often without being able to pass on the full costs of their assistance. These challenges are only reinforcing the need for accountants to deliver not just compliance, but also strategic risk insight at pace.
Global trade turbulence draws accountants into supply chain strategy
The strategic remit of the accountant is expanding even further into supply chains, driven by increasing concerns around tariffs and trade disruption.
According to Richard Muschamp, partner and leader of the CFO programme at Deloitte, trade controls, tariffs, and supply chain vulnerabilities have brought accounting professionals into risk discussions traditionally dominated by legal or operations teams. “Financial planning and analysis teams are particularly busy navigating increased competition and assessing the impact of tariffs, although the specific effects will vary depending on the industry and market conditions,” he notes.
Gerger agrees that the complexities of global trade are drawing accountants into new territory. “There’s a need for much more granular monitoring and modelling around costs, especially those influenced by trade dynamics,” he explains. Gerger points out that some businesses are even adopting automated systems to track tariff changes in real time, allowing them to instantly model cost impacts — a clear sign of accounting’s growing strategic influence.
Sheth offers a more nuanced view, suggesting that while accountants are increasingly involved in supply chain cost analysis, tariff classification remains largely a legal matter for now. However, he believes financial experts may play a larger role in classification issues in future, particularly if the financial stakes are high.
The role of technology
If economic uncertainty is pushing accountants into more strategic roles, it is also accelerating the adoption of digitalisation and AI – technologies that promise to relieve some of the workload.
Gerger is optimistic about the potential benefits. “Digitalisation and AI are beginning to relieve teams of repetitive, manual tasks,” he says, describing the current moment as a “big opportunity” to upgrade systems and future-proof operations.
However, there’s no escaping the tension between strategic ambition and resource reality.
Alysha Randall, founder and CEO of Fast Growth Consulting Ltd, warns that teams are being stretched. “Portions of the accounting role such as financial operations will disappear, but the more strategic parts of the role, additional pressures, ESG reporting, risk analysis, global issues are putting additional pressures on the business and the accounting teams are required to be heavily involved in all these aspects. So, the accountant’s role is definitely changing,” she admits.
For accountants, this means using the current slowdown as an opportunity to innovate internally before economic conditions inevitably tighten again.
Despite these advances, changing perceptions of accountants’ roles remains a battle. Sheth points out that many businesses still treat their accountant as “the 4th emergency service, to only be called upon when in absolute need.” He argues that accountants must be more proactive, embedding themselves into strategic discussions and helping business owners see them as true partners rather than crisis responders.
The trend toward deeper business integration is visible but it requires accountants to step confidently into new conversations about growth, resilience, and innovation.
Advice for the future: adaptation and leadership
For accountants navigating the current climate, the message from industry leaders is consistent: embrace the shift and use it to drive meaningful change.
Sheth advises accountants to remember that even defensive strategies deliver immense value. “That cost analysis is crucial for companies during times of economic crisis, and whilst your defensive work might be perceived as penny pinching, you are actually delivering important advice which could be the difference between a business being in the black or in the red,” he says.
Gerger similarly urges accountants to treat today’s environment as a catalyst for transformation. “Use the constraints as an opportunity to root out inefficiencies and invest in better systems,” he advises. “If there’s ever a time to reimagine your accounting processes, it’s now – before more consistent economic growth returns and the pressure to scale rapidly kicks in.”
Ultimately, as Paul Lodder concludes, accountants now have the tools, the technology, and the insight to lead from the front. Those who embrace the strategic opportunity ahead of them will define the future of the profession – not just as record-keepers, but as risk navigators and business enablers.
