Planning for Tariffs: Turn Uncertainty into Opportunity with Your FP&A Software

Tariffs have rapidly become one of the most pressing concerns for organizations worldwide. Leaders in Strategy, Finance, and Procurement are asking tough questions…

“How do tariffs affect our costs?”

“Should we pass them on to customers?”

“Should we change our manufacturing footprint?”

…but few have the tools or processes in place to answer them thoroughly.

McKinsey CFO Yuval Atsmon said in a recent interview on the economic impact of tariffs,

“The one clear thing is that this is impacting people’s ability to plan ahead pretty significantly.“

Most companies we speak with are still in the early preparedness stage, experimenting with ad-hoc Excel-based models that struggle to keep pace with complex, ever-changing global markets.

And tariffs are just one piece of the puzzle you’re dealing with.

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Why Tariffs Present Such a Challenge

• High Risk & Uncertainty: Tariff rules can shift overnight, impacting your cost structure, your margins, and affect supplier decisions with little warning.

• Complex Decision Points: Questions about whether to absorb costs, retire products, or change suppliers often involve multi-layered data and analysis across Finance, Operations, and Procurement.

• Disruption Beyond Supply Chain: Tariffs often impact your cash flow, demand forecasts, and even capital planning—especially when FX and inflation enter the picture.

• Delayed Action: Many companies admit they’re in a “wait and see” mode – trying to gauge the potential impact before taking definitive steps, even when they know action needed.

Industry observers note that understanding your degree of exposure is more critical at this stage than calculating specific, minute cost changes. But to even understand exposure effectively, organizations are expressing the need for more flexible and integrated planning and forecasting that goes beyond spreadsheets, or IT and vendor dependent systems.

Organizations everywhere are looking for a smarter way to navigate these uncertain times.

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A Smarter Way to Plan with Kepion

By using modern, flexible planning solutions as a unified Corporate Performance Management (CPM) organizations like yours are moving from reactive planning cycles to proactive, scenario-based decision making

Here’s how:

1. Define Tariff-Specific Drivers

Create dedicated tariff drivers that capture duties, levies, and tax rates across regions or products. This allows you to:

• Quickly update assumptions as policies shift
• Automate cost impact calculations across your P&L and Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow
• Blend financial and operational data for a unified view of tariff impacts

3. Test What-If Scenarios Before Acting

Relying on a single “best guess” plan isn’t enough. You need to be able to build and run rapid scenario comparisons to address both micro (e.g., short-term price adjustments) and macro (e.g., supply chain shifts) decisions. With Kepion, you can do both:

• Micro Tactical Decisions: How a small price increase might offset tariffs without losing key customers
• Macro Strategic Decisions: Whether relocating a manufacturing facility could reduce long-term tariff exposure.

4. Quick Implementation, Consultative Approach

With many companies still relying on Excel for tariff simulations, the Kepion team provides a fast-to-deploy solution that bridges existing processes and your evolving needs. We work alongside you to ensure your tariff planning aligns with broader FP&A and S&OP strategies, integrating both financial and non-financial perspectives into a single, holistic plan.

Seize the Moment

Tariffs are just one of many forces putting pressure on Planning today. From inflation and FX shifts to supplier changes and CapEx hesitation, today’s Finance and Ops leaders like you are being asked to make critical decisions faster—and with more variables—than ever before.

And yet, industry experts like McKinsey highlight that many, if not most, organizations aren’t yet prepared to manage tariffs effectively.

That’s precisely where using an agile, integrated planning solution like Kepion can help you shine. Our consultative approach means we’re ready to help you design and execute tariff scenarios swiftly, empowering smarter decisions and better business outcomes.

If you’re looking to experiment, analyze, and prepare for any tariff eventuality, now is the time to take a step beyond Excel. You don’t need to forecast the future perfectly. You just need a way to plan for it with confidence.

With the right approach, you can spend less time reacting—and more time leading.

Contact us today if you’d like to discuss how you could leverage Kepion to stay ahead of tariff and other uncertainties – so you can turn risk into opportunity and keep your business moving forward.

We look forward to speaking and working together!

~ Peter Bull, Head of Customer Success

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