Why Wipfli?
Wipfli combines our CPA foundation and decades of serving manufacturers to help you thrive in a challenging tax environment.
We don’t just manage compliance — we help you build resilient tax strategies that align with your business goals and drive long-term value. We also closely monitor tax policy changes so that we can deliver comprehensive strategies to help minimize your tax burden and turn complexity into opportunity.
Our tax services for manufacturing businesses include:
Wipfli can help you mitigate risks with real-time, ongoing support for navigating tariff strategy and trade regulation shifts. We provide strategic insights into the growing complexity of global trade, including tariff forecasting, scenario planning and financial modeling, supply chain strategy and USMCA compliance.
Optimize tax strategies with proactive planning, compliance and accounting solutions tailored to your complex business needs. Wipfli’s specialty tax services team applies decades of tax preparation experience to turn your regulatory challenges into opportunities for operational and financial efficiency.
Wipfli helps you navigate evolving tax regulations across jurisdictions to minimize exposure while enhancing compliance. Our solutions, ranging from sales and use tax to property and unclaimed property tax, are designed to reduce liabilities while aligning with strategic business goals.
Seize growth opportunities in international markets with Wipfli. We leverage our industry experience and global network to help you scale with support for international tax compliance, supply chain management, cross-border operations and other critical areas. We’re ready to help you streamline logistics and mitigate risk as you expand your footprint.
Wipfli’s credits and incentives services help manufacturing leaders uncover and capitalize on tax opportunities — including the manufacturing R&D tax credit, hiring incentives, energy credits and capital investment incentives. We help streamline the qualification and application process so that you can maximize your applicable savings.
Manage the challenges of global tax compliance, planning and reporting with Wipfli’s international tax services. We provide strategic services, including transfer pricing, entity structuring and tax efficiency, to help you stay compliant and competitive in international markets.
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EVENT | December 16, 2026
Planning for 2027: What tariff, trade and policy shifts mean for manufacturers
Manufacturers are facing immediate challenges across their supply chains — from navigating tariff refunds and rising costs to managing supplier relationships and customer expectations. Many are also struggling to make decisions for 2027 and longer-term amid continued trade and policy uncertainty. Join Wipfli and the founder of Inside Beltway, a DC-based advisory and research firm, to learn what recent policy developments mean for manufacturers — and how to plan for whats next.
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Manufacturing risk management: Key threats and action steps
The manufacturing industry is in the midst of a volatile period. Manufacturers must overcome risks like tariffs, supply chain disruptions, international macroeconomic pressures from the wars in Iran and Ukraine, AI growing pains and more — all while protecting profitability. Implementing an effective risk management strategy can help your manufacturing business navigate today’s risks. Keep reading to learn more, plus how to assess and mitigate your own top risks. Why risk management matters for manufacturers Manufacturing businesses are currently operating in a high-VUCA environment. The acronym, which stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, describes many of the key pressures manufacturing CFOs and COOs face as they try to maintain smooth operations and combat shrinking margins. Risk management is a way to bring a little stability to that high-VUCA environment. There’s so much you can’t control — tariffs, international trade, wars, government policies — but by focusing on what you can do within your own four walls, you can still manage your risks enough to protect your value and operating income. This often starts with a mindset shift. If you’re willing to let go of your old ways of doing business and embrace changes like new technology or revamped processes, you’ll have taken a big first step towards making your business stronger and more adaptable. What are the major risks facing manufacturers? Manufacturers today face risks like supply chain concentration, workforce shortages and cybersecurity threats. Those risks are compounded by big-picture, geopolitical issues like tariffs and international conflicts, as well as the ongoing rise of AI. Top risks for manufacturers include: Tariff risks: Most U.S. imports are now tariffed at between 10-50% , raising materials costs for many manufacturers while also putting additional cost pressures on consumers. Geopolitical risks: The wars in Iran and Ukraine have strained supply chains and caused price spikes for oil and other essential commodities. Workforce risks: Manufacturing’s perennial labor problem hasn’t gotten any easier, with both worker shortages and high labor costs continuing to pressure businesses. Supply chain risks: Many manufacturers still put too many eggs in one basket, relying on overly concentrated supply chains with respect to both vendors and customers. AI risks: While AI can deliver significant benefits to manufacturers , the technology comes with major risks too , especially in areas like data privacy and shadow AI . Cybersecurity risks: Cybersecurity has increasingly gone from just an IT concern to a significant financial risk , as ransomware attacks or data breaches can lead to financial, operational and reputational harm. Shrinking margins: Rising costs on many fronts are cutting into margins, making it harder for manufacturers to get or stay profitable. Production risks: Depending on industry or process type, manufacturers also face production-specific risks around issues like safety and wasted open capacity. How to assess manufacturing risk Your manufacturing business may deal with many of the industrywide risks covered in this article, but it could also face others more specific to your region or niche within the industry. Conducting a manufacturing risk assessment can help you understand your unique risk environment and develop a strategy to mitigate it. Here’s a practical risk assessment framework for manufacturers (a risk advisory firm can help you work through it): 1. Identify and document risks Identify the risk areas and individual risks that could affect your business. This will likely include industrywide risks like tariffs or cybersecurity. Also consider factors more specific to your business, like a mission-critical employee who’s due to retire or production risks like food or chemical safety. 2. Assess the likelihood and impact of each risk Once you have a list of risks, assess each risk based on likelihood and impact. You can rate each of these factors using a scale of low, medium or high. 3. Prioritize risk based on likelihood and impact Prioritize your risks based on likelihood and impact, as well as your essential business objectives. For example, if supply chain disruptions are both high-likelihood and high-impact, that’s a risk you’ll want to tackle right away, while a low-likelihood, medium-impact risk will likely be much lower on your priorities list. Your C-suite should also discuss risk tolerance. 4. Identify existing controls and gaps Assess the controls, policies and procedures you already have in place to mitigate your high-priority risks. This will also help you identify control gaps that need to be filled, like a lack of AI governance or an ineffective system for tracking tariff costs. 5. Develop risk mitigation strategies Develop a risk management roadmap to tackle your top priority risks. This will typically include establishing new controls or policies to manage risk, as well as training, scenario planning and strategic steps like technology upgrades or inventory management changes. 6. Assign risk owners and accountability To ensure your risk management roadmap actually gets implemented, assign owners to each action step. Creating a system of accountability, like regular reporting at the C-suite or board level, can also help drive follow-through. 7. Monitor and assess risk regularly As you implement your risk management roadmap, continue to regularly monitor your risk environment and periodically reassess. Risks are constantly evolving, so your risk management strategy needs to be, too. How can manufacturers mitigate business risks? Implementing a risk management strategy can help manufacturing CFOs and COOs mitigate their top business risks. Depending on the results of your risk assessment, you may wish to consider strategies like: Work with a risk management advisor An advisory firm that works with manufacturers to manage risk and improve performance can help your business navigate today’s high-VUCA environment. Look to an advisor to conduct your risk assessment and help you implement internal controls, operational changes and strategic shifts to manage your risks. Strengthen supply chain resilience Diversify your supply chain to mitigate tariff and disruption risks. Start by mapping your supply chain and identifying possible alternatives for both sourcing and customers. You may also want to do a reshoring or nearshoring evaluation to determine if either could make sense for your business. Improve operational processes and controls Running your business more efficiently can help protect your margins from surging costs . One idea: Implement production monitoring to get a clearer sense of how your production is performing on a day-to-day basis (you’ll get a dashboard showing red or green status for your machines) so you can establish a baseline to improve on. You can also use AI to make predictive maintenance recommendations to reduce your risk of machine downtime. Strengthen your analytics The more data you have, the better you understand how your business is performing. This applies to not just production line performance but also areas like costs, pricing, inventory and organizational performance — all of which can help you identify inefficiencies and understand how what happens in your plant impacts profitability. Implement strong cybersecurity and AI controls You need effective controls for cybersecurity , data protection and AI. This typically includes establishing technology governance , implementing ongoing cybersecurity training and taking steps to make your business more cyber resilient . Improve financial forecasting and scenario planning CFOs should take advantage of AI’s analytical capabilities to do extensive financial forecasting and evaluate the impact of various scenarios. Forecasting and scenario planning can help you to both understand potential risk areas and decide which to prioritize in your risk roadmap. Regularly reassess risks and update controls and strategies Don’t assume today’s risks are the same as tomorrows. Make risk management an ongoing, living practice that includes periodic reassessments and updates to your controls and strategies. Stop putting off succession planning Succession planning isn’t just about who will own the company 10 years from now. Engaging in a thoughtful succession planning process makes your whole business more stable by ensuring continuity of knowledge after a long-time employee retires, passing sales relationships from one generation to the next and giving employees a path to move up in the business. Don’t ignore valuable tax opportunities Manufacturers can often offset margin pressures using tax incentives. Depending on the circumstances, these may include R&D tax credits , bonus depreciation or qualified production property , state-level incentives and even sunsetting energy efficiency deductions like 179D that could still apply to plant upgrades you’ve already made. Read More Can the qualified production property rule help your manufacturing firm reduce tax payments? Cybersecurity in manufacturing: Strategies to mitigate risk Manufacturing trends: What 456 leaders say about the industry today.
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9 top tariff mitigation strategies for manufacturing CFOs
For many manufacturers, the Trump administration’s tariff policies have created new costs and supply chain complications. Active tariffs under Section 232, Section 301 and Section 338 are raising the cost of many imports by 10-50% . How should your business adapt to succeed in this environment? Keep reading to learn key tariff mitigation strategies that CFOs and COOs can use to protect profitability even in the face of tariff pressures. 9 top tariff mitigation strategies manufacturers should know While there is no silver bullet, manufacturing CFOs and COOs do have options to offset tariff costs. If you understand your tariff exposure and supply chain, you can consider mitigation strategies like alternative sourcing, pricing pass-throughs, optimized inventory management, operational efficiency improvements and tax incentives. Deploying a combination of these strategies will help protect your overall profitability even after accounting for tariff expenses: 1. Map your supply chain Start by mapping out your current supply chain. Identify the sources of your raw materials, components and finished goods, while also reviewing HTS codes for all imports. Understanding where your products originate will help you evaluate potential tariff impacts. 2. Diversify your supplier base Based on your supply chain mapping, consider if you could reduce tariff exposure by diversifying your materials suppliers. Nearly all U.S. trading partners remain covered by tariffs, but not all countries are subject to the same tariff rate. Section 301 tariffs, for example, range from 10% to 12.5% depending on the country. In this example, switching from a supplier tariffed at 12.5% to one tariffed at 10% would reduce your tariff payments by 20%. 3. Evaluate domestic or near-shore sourcing In certain cases, tariff costs may mean that domestic sourcing is now a more viable option. Materials or goods sourced domestically aren’t tariffed, so you may be able to find more competitive pricing than in years past. Companies that have moved production overseas may also want to explore whether reshoring could make sense, although this approach typically only works when combined with heavy automation to offset high domestic labor costs. 4. Reassess your costing and quoting strategies For much of 2025, manufacturers simply ate tariff costs rather than risk angering consumers by passing those costs along. But that’s not a viable long-term solution. If you haven’t yet, explore changing your prices to reflect your higher costs, as well as how to implement those increases over time to soften the impact on consumers. 5. Optimize inventory and purchasing strategies Adopting a more agile, flexible approach to inventory management can help you avoid unnecessary costs. Taking this approach involves understanding exactly what your customers want, focusing on jobs that boost profitability (typically those that are either high volume or high value) and exploring more flexible contracts with suppliers to avoid over-purchasing materials you don’t need. 6. Review your supplier and customer agreements Tariffs are affecting both your suppliers and businesses that buy your products. You may be stuck with your existing contracts, but when negotiating a new one, explore how you can share the burden of tariff costs rather than leaving your business to eat most of them on its own. 7. Improve operational efficiency Improving operational efficiency can lower operating costs or increase production to offset tariff expenses. Manufacturers are increasingly leaning on technology like AI to deliver operational gains, with packaging automation, machine monitoring systems and process control technologies all delivering notable ROI in this area. This does involve making a meaningful upfront investment. However, certain tax incentives can notably lower that burden. 8. Use tax incentives to offset tariff costs A smart tax strategy can help significantly offset your overall tariff burden. CFOs should dig into the details on how to handle accounting for tariffs from a tax perspective , as well as consider how specific manufacturing tax incentives could reduce your non-tariff tax exposure or help cover the cost of investments in efficiency, molds, dies and automation. Key tax incentives to explore include: Bonus depreciation and qualified production property to immediately deduct the full cost of certain qualified real property investments. Section 179D expensing to deduct the cost of certain energy efficiency facility upgrades. R&D tax benefits to deduct or receive tax credits for research, experimentation and development costs. Tariffs can also increase your credit eligibility here. 9. Pursue tariff refunds when applicable In early 2026, the Supreme Court overturned the administration’s IEEPA tariffs and ordered that roughly $166 billion in tariff collections be refunded. If your business paid IEEPA tariffs, you may be eligible to have that money returned . The process can be complex, but if you were burdened by significant IEEPA tariff costs, you stand to gain a significant reimbursement. Why tariff management matters for manufacturers today Manufacturers face a host of pressures on profitability, including high costs for raw materials and labor, competition from emerging markets, economic uncertainty and a technological revolution that is shaking up traditional business models. Tariffs only add to that pressure, which makes managing them essential to surviving (and thriving) in today’s business environment. This is doubly the case because tariff policy continues to be volatile, which means you’ll get burned if you don’t have a process in place to help you adapt to those policy shifts. Also consider that successful tariff management means learning to run your business more efficiently and effectively. By acting now, you’re investing in long-term performance gains that will stick around even if the current tariffs are eventually phased out. In other words, implementing an effective tariff management strategy will bolster your profit margins both now and in the future. How tariff mitigation helps CFOs improve profit margins No single tariff mitigation strategy will likely offset all your tariff costs. However, by employing a combination of supply chain adjustments, efficiencies, tax incentives and pricing pass-throughs, you can significantly reduce the hit to your profit margins. Consider that tariff mitigation strategies help you to: Counterbalance tariff costs by finding new cost savings or opportunities to do more profitable jobs. Operate more efficiently, with tariffs serving as the necessary push to adopt automation or more efficient processes. Better understand your supply chain and customers so you can adapt to meet today’s business demands. Avoid wasting valuable tax opportunities by claiming deductions or credits you may already be entitled to, or that apply to necessary expenses. Protect your margins by helping negate rising costs in areas like healthcare, labor and materials to set you up for a strong balance sheet five years from now. Tariffs are frustrating. But they are also an opportunity to rethink your business and make structural changes to put it on more solid, sustainable ground. Read more Tariff update: New Section 301 tariffs, Section 232 and more Tariff refunds for manufacturers: What to do next How do tariffs affect taxes for manufacturing businesses?
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