Almost four in five architecture, engineering and consulting (AEC) firms expect profits to rise in 2026, according to new research, despite continued economic uncertainty.
The study, Deltek’s seventh annual Clarity survey, found that 78% of project-based firms anticipate profit growth this year, with more than one in five forecasting increases of 10% or more.
Cost control has overtaken revenue growth as the primary lever for improving profitability. The research found that 34% of firms now identify tighter controls over purchases and approvals as the single biggest driver of profitability, up from 26% in 2024.
Deltek has published the findings in a new report, The CFO’s Agenda, which sets out the trends, pressures and performance patterns facing finance functions at project-based firms.
Cybersecurity is also becoming a more prominent financial consideration. Two-thirds of firms – 66% – have been targeted by a cyber attack in the past three years, and 45% of those affected suffered direct financial losses.
Disconnected data hampering decisions
The research points to a structural gap between firms that track performance and those able to act on the data quickly enough to protect margins.
While 86% of firms say they track operating profit adequately or very well – up from 75% in 2024 – just 22% have a fully integrated, end-to-end project management system. As a result, many finance leaders are making commercial decisions using KPI data that is incomplete or manually compiled.
Firms that reported stronger profit growth in 2025 were more likely to be tracking specific KPIs closely, including revenue factor, project profitability, net labour margin, backlog and overhead rate.
AI yet to deliver financial impact for most
The study also found that 91% of firms consider artificial intelligence (AI) critical to their organisation’s success, but more than half have yet to see productivity gains or cost savings from it.
The strongest near-term opportunities for AI, the research suggests, lie in project planning, resourcing, performance reporting, billing and back-office finance, where it can improve visibility, reduce manual work and protect margins. Agentic AI is identified as the next major shift, with firms investing now in integrated data and governance said to be best placed to capture the benefits.
Heather Larkin, CFO at Deltek, said: “The role of the CFO has fundamentally changed. Today’s finance leaders aren’t simply reporting on performance, they’re shaping it. The highest-performing firms in our study share common characteristics.
“They’re all connecting financial data to project data, embedding AI to deliver measurable returns, treating cyber risk as a financial exposure, and building KPI discipline that enables early intervention rather than late reporting. They understand that it’s not a case of having the most resources or the biggest teams, but about moving fast and demonstrating control.”
Build in Digital Stakeholder Deltek is an intelligent platform for high-stakes work that runs on the project lifecycle — designed for the way you actually work. You can access the full report here.
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