A 2026 Research Study Conducted by the CEO Financial Intelligence Academy Publication: Q4 2026

The State of Financial Intelligence in the Mid-Market.

The first definitive study of how CEOs at $5M to $500M in revenue actually lead their companies' financial decisions — where the gap between strategic objective and financial execution is widest, what closes it, and what it costs the businesses that leave it open.

Participate in the Study →

8 minutes · Anonymous · Confidential peer benchmark returned to contributors

Founder & Author

Oana Labes, MBA, CPA

Sponsoring Institution

CEO Financial Intelligence Academy

Target Sample

500+ mid-market chief executives

Publication

Q4 2026 · Public + contributor edition

The Hypothesis

Mid-market CEOs make the decisions and take the risk.

But most operate in a structural gap between strategy and execution. This study measures that gap for the first time, with primary data from the executives who live in it.

Chief executives at mid-market operating companies command the outcome of every capital, cash flow, and enterprise value decision their businesses make. Yet the majority lack the financial infrastructure to anticipate the impact of those decisions before they commit. This study measures the size and cost of that infrastructure gap — and defines what it takes to close it.

What the Study Will Publish

Eight chapters. One question: how are mid-market CEOs actually leading?

Findings will be released at report publication in Q4 2026. Below, the argument the report will make.

Chapter 01

The Decision Command Gap

Where CEO confidence in anticipating decision impact on cash flow, risk, and enterprise value diverges from what their infrastructure actually supports.

Chapter 02

The Missing Middle

The financial infrastructure that sits — or should sit — between strategic objective and operational execution, and how few companies actually have it.

Chapter 03

Retrospective Damage

The strategic decisions of the past 24 months that better financial intelligence would have materially improved — quantified by revenue band and industry.

Chapter 04

The Counterparty Compass

How often and how severely mid-market CEOs are surprised by shifts in banker, board, and investor posture their own analysis had not anticipated.

Chapter 05

Capital Capacity Blind Spots

How well CEOs understand what their balance sheet, cash flow, and counterparty relationships would actually allow them to do next.

Chapter 06

Enterprise Value Readiness

Whether CEOs can defend their company's enterprise value in front of an acquirer today — and what the top decile does differently.

Chapter 07

Priorities for the Next 12 Months

Where CEOs would invest to strengthen financial command — segmented by revenue band, industry, and growth stage.

Chapter 08

Closing the Gap

The frameworks and infrastructure that separate the top-decile CEOs from the rest, and what closing the gap has been worth in enterprise value.

Appendix

Methodology & Instrument

Full survey instrument, sample composition by revenue band and industry, anonymization protocol, and per-question response distributions.

Methodology

How the study is being conducted.

Transparency on sample, protocol, and analysis. The instrument is available in full as an appendix in the published report.

Population

Chief executives of mid-market operating companies at $5M to $500M in annual revenue, across all major industries. Related C-suite (CFO, COO, Founder) welcome when they hold financial decision authority.

Target Sample

500+ verified responses, with segmentation floor of n=30 per published cut (revenue band × industry).

Instrument

28 questions across 8 sections, mixing Likert scales, matrix batteries, single- and multi-select, one open-ended qualitative item. Estimated completion time: 8 minutes.

Distribution

Editorial co-partner networks, industry association partners, principal investigator's owned audience (500K+ social, 40K newsletter subscribers), and outbound recruitment via LinkedIn.

Anonymization

Responses collected without identifying information. Contact details optional and stored separately from response data. Quotations attributed only with explicit consent.

Timeline

Field: August–September 2026. Analysis and peer review: October 2026. Publication and live launch briefing: November–December 2026.

Editorial and Distribution Partners

Published in partnership with.

The study is co-published with a small number of editorial and distribution partners whose CEO networks constitute the study's core sample. Partner slots are confirmed through the field-open period.

Editorial Co-Partner

To be announced

Publication brand

Distribution Partner

To be announced

Mid-market CEO peer network

Distribution Partner

To be announced

Industry association

Distribution Partner

To be announced

Deal community

About the Academy

Conducted by the CEO Financial Intelligence Academy.

The Academy is a research and executive-education initiative dedicated to how chief executives of mid-market operating companies lead their companies' financial trajectory. It publishes original research, delivers live executive training, and maintains a global community of CEOs and C-suite leaders at $5M to $500M in revenue.

Oana Labes, MBA, CPA

Founder & Founder & Author

Oana spent 15 years in commercial banking leading over $350M+ in financing for 300+ small and mid-sized companies across several industries. During that time she watched a staggering number of organizations struggle to scale and miss critical growth opportunities.

She left banking to build what was missing: the curriculum, the system, and the community that turn financial intelligence from an accounting function into a CEO capability. She founded the CEO Financial Intelligence Academy in 2024 and is the author of the forthcoming book on engineering cash flow in the mid-market.

500K+ Social media audience

160M+ Content views

20K+ Executives trained

Forbes Featured

Top 10 LinkedIn corporate finance creator

LinkedIn Learning instructor

What contributors receive

Three things you leave with.

One is exclusive to contributors. One reaches you at launch, ahead of the public wave. And one is a personal invitation to the live briefing where the findings are taught.

Your confidential peer benchmark

Exclusive to contributors. How you compare on every dimension of the study to other CEOs in your industry and revenue band. Where the top decile is ahead of you. Where you are already ahead. And where the gap is quietly costing you money every quarter.

The full report and frameworks, at launch

The complete findings and the frameworks behind them. Not a summary. The playbooks the top decile use to engineer cash flow, contain risk, and grow enterprise value by hundreds of thousands to millions. Delivered directly to contributors at launch.

Personal invitation to the live briefing

A 120-minute live executive briefing at report launch, teaching the frameworks emerging from the research. Open to the executive community. Contributors are personally invited and named as contributors in the audience welcome.

Participate

Add your voice.

Eight minutes. Anonymous. Twenty-eight questions across eight sections designed for chief executives, not analysts. Your confidential peer benchmark, the full report and frameworks at launch, and a personal invitation to the live briefing are yours in return.

Embed the survey here.

Build the form in Tally using the questions from State_of_Financial_Intelligence_Survey_v11.docx, then paste the embed snippet in place of this placeholder.

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Publication Timeline

Field to publication in four stages.

July 2026

Partners confirmed

Editorial co-partner and distribution partners locked. Instrument finalized.

Aug–Sep 2026

Field open

Survey distributed through partner networks and principal investigator's audience. Target: 500+ responses.

October 2026

Analysis & peer review

Statistical analysis, segmentation, chapter drafting. External editorial review.

Nov–Dec 2026

Publication + live briefing

Report released to contributors first, then public. Live 120-minute executive briefing with the principal investigator.

Frequently Asked

Common questions.

Who is eligible to participate?

Chief executives, presidents, founders, chief financial officers, chief operating officers, and other C-suite executives leading operating companies at $5M to $500M in annual revenue across all major industries. Related roles are welcome when they hold financial decision authority.

Is participation really anonymous?

Yes. Survey responses are collected without identifying information. Contact details for the peer benchmark, report distribution, and masterclass reservation are stored separately from the response data and are never associated with your answers in any published findings. Verbatim quotations are attributed only with explicit consent.

How much time does the survey take?

Approximately eight minutes for most respondents. The instrument comprises 28 questions across 8 sections. You can complete it on desktop or mobile.

How is the peer benchmark constructed?

Your responses are compared to the aggregate distribution of respondents in your revenue band and primary industry. The benchmark reports your position on every dimension of the survey relative to peer cohorts and the top-decile respondents. Benchmarks are delivered at report launch alongside the full report.

Who is conducting the research?

The CEO Financial Intelligence Academy is the sponsoring institution. Oana Labes (MBA, CPA) is the principal investigator. Editorial co-partners and distribution partners are confirmed on a rolling basis and will be named in the published report.

When will the report be published?

Publication and the live launch briefing are targeted for November–December 2026. Contributors receive the report, their personalized benchmark, and their reserved masterclass seat at launch — before the report becomes public.

How can my organization become an editorial or distribution partner?

Editorial and distribution partnerships are open to CEO peer networks, industry associations, and mid-market publications through July 2026. Reach out to hello@oanalabes.com for the partner brief.

Contribute

Add your voice. Change how you lead.

Chief executives at $5M to $500M in revenue command the businesses that generate roughly one-third of US private-sector GDP and employ tens of millions. Yet they remain underserved by mainstream executive research. This study is the response. Add your data. Take back the frameworks the top decile use to command cash flow, contain risk, and grow enterprise value.

Participate in the Study →

8 minutes · Anonymous · Confidential peer benchmark returned to contributors