Many economic prognosticators and Wall Street stock pickers have made it clear where they stand on inflation and the Federal Reserve policy response: the economy and markets will get worse before they get better. Many chief financial officers at top companies agree with them, according to the results from the latest CNBC CFO Council survey.

Over 40% of chief financial officers cite inflation as the No. 1 external risk to their business, and going deeper into the results from the Q2 survey, the links between geopolitics and food and energy prices, and inflation, are clear from the C-suite ranking of the external factors that are weighing on their current outlook.

Almost one-quarter (23%) of CFOs cite Federal Reserve policy as the biggest risk factor, and as the Biden administration struggles for ways to increase oil supply and Russian ships sail with seized Ukrainian wheat amid concerns about a severe global food insecurity crisis, another 14% of CFOs cited the Russia-Ukraine war as the No. 1 business risk.