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The sudden exit of Moderna Inc.’s newly hired chief financial officer shines a light on the challenges companies and recruiters are facing in a tight job market, in which candidates often have more than one competing offer, forcing hiring managers to make quick decisions.

More than two years after the early waves of the pandemic forced executives to toss out their forecasts, finance chiefs are getting attuned to a barrage of challenges they didn’t see coming: the war in Ukraine, Western sanctions against Russia, volatile stock and bond markets, new lockdowns in China, continued supply-chain disruptions and the rapid rise in inflation. Here’s how they’re adjusting their plans.

Finance executives should acknowledge when their teams make progress applying technology to improve their business processes, says the CFO of insurance company Unum.

Alphabet Inc.’s Google is working to automate as many finance tasks as possible as it looks to reduce the amount of manual work that its employees have to do.

Companies looking to tap the debt markets will likely accelerate those plans after Federal Reserve minutes revealed that half-percentage point rises in interest rates might be in the offing to curb inflation.

Boards increasingly are looking for expertise on ESG, cyber and other issues. That means CFOs have to bring more than just their finance experience if they want a seat at the table.

Finance chiefs at Western companies that continue to operate and sell products in Russia have to decide what to do with the profits generated from those businesses.

“No one’s going to buy it,” Lush CEO Mark Constantine says of the company’s minority stake in Russia. Instead, he expects the business to run out of inventory and wind down.

Ratings company S&P Global Inc. is dismissing employees as it winds down its operations in Russia amid the country’s war with Ukraine, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Discovery Inc.’s finance chief in recent days faced the challenge of having to secure $30 billion in funding for its planned merger with AT&T Inc.’s media business in volatile markets and with a tight window.