BYOAI (Bring Your Own AI) To Work is seriously common among employees, and seriously risky for businesses.

In a new collaboration from the University of Melbourne in Australia and accounting firm KPMG, a survey found that 48% of the more than 48,000 respondents from 47 countries admitted to “using AI in ways that contravene company policies,” like uploading sensitive company information to public AI tools like ChatGPT.

Last year, cybersecurity firm Cyberhaven found that the percentage of sensitive data employees fed into AI chatbots was 27%. Cyberhaven offers a product to prevent employees from leaking sensitive data to AI. Seems like the third of US employees who think AI is increasing compliance risks at work are correct.

Beyond exposing company secrets to AI behemoths like OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and Meta, employees are also hiding their AI usage from employers. Around two in five (42%) admitted they avoid revealing when they use AI, and 45% have presented AI-generated content as their own original work.

For more on AI risks in the workplace, click here.—JK

At this rate, we’re gonna have to start referring to M&A as “muted and/or absent.”

Four months into 2025, EY released a fresh outlook for how the US M&A market will turn out. And expectations now are, well…they’re not as good as before.

Whereas earlier this year EY predicted an 11% increase in volume for deals over $100 million, the firm now expects “a very slight rise” of 1%. More specifically, EY expects corporate dealmaking will be flat relative to last year, while private equity deal volume should increase 1%.

For context, overall deal volume increased 19% in 2024, with corporate deal volume up 18% and PE deals up 23%.

Near the start of the year, M&A experts told CFO Brew the election of Donald Trump to a second term would bring certainty to the market and consequently buoy dealmaking. In most cases, the opposite has been true. Uncertainty is the buzzword of 2025 so far, with companies not sure how to proceed amid shifting tariff announcements, and consumer sentiment in freefall.

Click here to continue reading about the falloff in dealmaking.—AZ

It’s got to be tough captaining a ship that’s going through a patch of sea like the one the global economy is in right now. But public company CFOs and other execs are doing their darnedest to stay on course.

CFO Brew sifted through earnings calls for commentary that illuminates how the C-suite is responding to a global economy marred by trade tensions and declining consumer confidence. Simply put, corporations are tweaking their outlooks, adjusting prices, and trimming budgets.

Procter & Gamble, for instance, cut its fiscal year guidance from 2%–4% YoY sales growth to now be “approximately in-line with the prior year,” according to an earnings release.

“We continue to expect the environment around us to remain volatile and challenging from input costs, to currencies, to consumer, competitor, retailer, and geopolitical dynamics, and now tariff impacts,” CFO Andre Schulten said on a recent earnings call. Schulten also told investors the consumer-goods company “won’t cut to save the bottom line for a quarter only to lose momentum for the year.”

The new tariffs will slow growth at Procter & Gamble “in the range of $1 billion to $1.5 billion,” according to Schulten.

What else are companies saying about tariffs?—AZ

In uncertain times, smart capital allocation and risk management are more critical than ever. Join us on May 7 for a virtual event packed with insights on navigating inflation, tariffs, and supply chain disruptions—plus strategies to build resilience, capture tax incentives, and drive long-term value creation. Register now!