As we turn the corner on 2018, most CFOs are simultaneouslyfocused on helping their chief executives exploit the opportunitiesthat come with a booming economy and buffering their organizationfrom a handful of risks that loom on the horizon. These include thepossibilities that 2019 will bring economic deceleration, increasedcurrency and/or interest rate volatility, and an ever-growingregulatory and compliance burden.

If global economic decline settles in, as some experts predict, uncertainty will onlyincrease in the new year. The party certainly isn't over yet formost businesses around the world, but economic indicators suggestsome guests have already left. GDP growth in Europe is slowing, andsome expect the world economy to follow suit. Global growth reached3.1 percent in both 2017 and 2018, but the World Bank predicts thatit will decelerate over the next two years due to thedissipation of global slack (unused economic resources) and tightercentral bank monetary policies, among other constraints.