With CEO turnover reaching a seven-year high in the first three quarters of 2025, many CFOs can expect to help shepherd their organizations through changes at the top spot. CEO transitions can be stressful and confusing, and while they’re happening, boards and employees often look to CFOs for direction and a sense of stability.

At a session at the 2026 AICPA CFO Conference in Miami on Monday, CFOs who’ve been through multiple CEO changes shared their best advice for handling the changeover with grace.

Expect turmoil. The emotional impact of a CEO change should not be underestimated, panelists said. “People are afraid,” Jessica McClain, who worked under three CEOs in less than four years in her tenure as CFO of Girl Scouts Nation’s Capital, said. “They may have anxiety, they may be angry.” They’re concerned about what will change or be done differently, or whether their jobs are safe, she said.

At such junctures, “people are going to look to you as a CFO, because you represent some level of continuity,” McClain, now CFO at the American Staffing Association, said. “They’re looking for you to be steady.”

Keep reading.—CV

The century-old tax and accounting firm Grant Thornton is bucking industry hiring trends, and investing heavily in tech and AI along the way.

While some worry about AI’s impacts on the accounting and finance talent pipeline, Grant Thornton is boosting certain recruitment numbers this year. CEO Jim Peko told CFO Brew the company is also increasing its technology spend thanks to access to capital stemming from a 2024 private equity deal.

The deal with New Mountain Capital changed the firm’s governance, Peko said, allowing Grant Thornton to move quicker on certain decisions and have “access to capital that we didn’t have access to before.”

“In 2025 alone,” Peko said, “we closed 15 M&A transactions, and committed to invest $1 billion in tech and AI over the next few years.” He continued, “we see it as AI and people working together, not AI replacing people.”

Keep reading.—DL

Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad had a hard time remembering numbers—giving way to the brand’s famously difficult-to-pronounce products—but one doesn’t become the world’s biggest furniture business without them. In 2025, Ikea, which now has over 500 stores across 63 countries and territories, reported global retail sales of over €44.6 billion (around $52.6 billion).

The brand has created an in-store experience centered around vast showrooms, competitive prices, and, yes, Swedish meatballs. Now, it’s reassembling its strategy around three main elements: new store rollouts, investment in e-commerce, and dynamic partnerships.

A smorgasbord of revenue streams. If you ask Rob Olson, interim CEO of Ikea US, Ikea is not a furniture brand but rather a “concept company.” This is perhaps one explanation for the success of the business famous for its giant blue warehouses, but how does that translate to an e-commerce environment? Olson said he is trying to make Ikea’s online operation feel like the showroom bedrooms and hallways customers are already familiar with.

Keep reading on Revenue Brew.—BS