How Manufacturing CFOs Can Navigate 2026 Shifts

Manufacturing chief financial officers are operating in an environment shaped by persistent economic and operational pressures. Elevated borrowing costs, ongoing inflationary forces, evolving trade dynamics, and structural changes to supply chains remain central considerations for finance leaders of manufacturing organizations across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. These factors continue to influence working capital management, supply chain decisions, and overall profitability, and they have become embedded in operating conditions.

The role of the chief financial officer (CFO) has evolved accordingly, from managing short-term disruption to applying sustained financial discipline. This shift places greater emphasis on navigating trade-offs involving capital investment, inventory levels, and supply chain design while maintaining financial resilience.

While these shifts introduce complexity, they also create opportunity. CFOs who strengthen visibility into working capital, refine inventory strategies, and align financial planning with long-term operational decisions are better positioned to support resilience and profitable growth. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems play an important role in this evolution by providing integrated insight that supports informed decision-making. For many midmarket manufacturers, ERP solutions such as the NetSuite platform help finance leaders connect financial, inventory, and operational data without adding unnecessary complexity. Following are key considerations for manufacturing CFOs as they navigate the economic shifts shaping 2026.

Interest rates and capital planning require continued discipline

Interest rates might ease modestly in 2026, but they remain well above levels many manufacturers relied on for years. Even incremental rate changes can materially affect borrowing costs, capital investment decisions, and the cost of carrying inventory. This environment reinforces the need for disciplined capital planning rather than expectations of near-term relief.

Funding equipment upgrades, automation initiatives, or capacity expansion all require scrutiny. Capital decisions increasingly hinge on clear return-on-investment assumptions and realistic payback periods. The focus is less on whether to invest and more on where capital delivers the greatest strategic and financial impact.

Maintaining strong visibility into cash flow and working capital remains essential. ERP systems support this discipline by consolidating financial data, improving forecasting accuracy, and helping finance teams evaluate how capital decisions affect liquidity under different scenarios. ERP solutions such as the NetSuite platform enable CFOs to assess capital trade-offs using consistent, near-real-time information.

Inventory management moves to the balance sheet forefront

One of the most notable shifts so far in 2026 is the growing prominence of inventory as a balance sheet and cash flow consideration. Higher interest rates have increased inventory carrying costs, which makes excess stock more expensive to finance and more visible in financial performance.

Inventory decisions increasingly reflect deliberate financial strategy rather than purely operational considerations. CFOs must balance sufficient supply to meet customer demand while avoiding overinvestment that constrains liquidity. This balance becomes more complex as manufacturers adopt longer planning horizons and manage increasingly diversified supply chains.

Inventory also plays a role in supporting operational resilience. As sourcing strategies evolve and lead times fluctuate, holding the right inventory in the right locations can help reduce disruption risk. However, this resilience comes with financial trade-offs that require clear visibility into inventory turnover, aging, and cash impact.

ERP systems help finance leaders evaluate these trade-offs by aligning inventory data with demand planning and financial reporting. In NetSuite environments, this alignment provides clearer insight into how inventory decisions affect cash flow and balance sheet performance. For midmarket manufacturers, integrated ERP solutions such as the NetSuite platform improves insight without the complexity of disconnected systems.

Onshoring and nearshoring reflect a paradigm shift

Onshoring and nearshoring initiatives have evolved beyond short-term responses to tariffs or geopolitical uncertainty. For many manufacturers, these strategies now represent longer-term redesigns of operating models aimed at improving predictability, responsiveness, and control.

From a financial perspective, this shift carries meaningful implications. Domestic or regional production often requires higher upfront capital investment and introduces higher fixed costs. At the same time, it can reduce exposure to transportation volatility, extended lead times, and certain trade-related risks.

CFOs play a central role in evaluating these decisions by assessing total cost structures, the timing of cash outflows, and the impact on working capital during transition periods. ERP systems support this analysis by enabling finance teams to model scenarios and understand how sourcing choices affect margins and cash flow over time.

Tariffs remain a variable, not a one-time event

Tariffs continue to influence manufacturing cost structures, even as specific policies evolve. Rather than treating tariffs as exceptional charges, many CFOs now approach them as ongoing variables that require integration into cost and margin analysis.

In 2026, the challenge lies less in predicting specific policy outcomes and more in managing variability. Finance leaders benefit from the ability to model tariff exposure across products and suppliers and assess how changes affect profitability. This capability supports more informed pricing, sourcing, and customer strategies without reliance on assumptions about future trade decisions.

ERP platforms help finance leaders by incorporating tariff-related costs into broader financial planning and reporting, improving transparency, and supporting consistent decision-making.

ERP systems support better financial trade-offs

The economic shifts shaping 2026 underscore the importance of timely, reliable information. CFOs are expected to balance liquidity, resilience, and return while operating in a changing environment. ERP systems serve as decision infrastructure by integrating financial, operational, and supply chain data within a single platform.

With improved visibility, finance teams can monitor working capital metrics, assess inventory performance, and evaluate capital investments with greater confidence. NetSuite-based ERP environments are particularly well suited to support this level of integrated visibility for growing manufacturers. For midmarket organizations, ERP solutions such as the NetSuite platform provide scalable capabilities that support growth while maintaining financial control.

Financial leadership can thrive in a redefined environment

The economic pressures facing manufacturers have evolved into lasting structural shifts. In 2026, CFOs are operating within a redefined environment that rewards discipline, clarity, and informed trade-offs rather than short-term reaction.

By strengthening inventory strategy, applying rigorous capital discipline, and using ERP systems to support visibility and planning, finance leaders can position their organizations to respond effectively to continued change.