The Executive Voice

Accurate Financial Disclosure, Yet You’re Telling a Misleading Story

Why Storytelling Is Sometimes a Very Bad Thing – Part 4

For CEOs and their teams, presenting accurate numbers is the starting point. But the story you tell around your figures influences what people believe about your business, your judgement, and the future of the business.

“Revenue grew 25% as we invested in expansion.”

“Operating profit halved despite a 25% increase in revenue.”

Both statements could describe the same company’s results. One suggests momentum and ambition. The other raises questions about whether growth is paying off.

Neither offers a sufficient explanation of financial health and that’s a problem.

Use Positive Framing Backed By Evidence

A thoughtful narrative, couched in the positive makes genuine progress visible. It can explain why lower profit accompanies a worthwhile investment, or why slower growth reflects a deliberate decision to pursue more profitable work.

But those explanations need evidence. Calling expenditure “investment for growth” doesn’t establish that it will produce worthwhile returns. Calling a setback “temporary” requires a basis for believing it will pass.

Nouns and Verbs Also Shape the Impression

Research published in Accounting, Organizations and Society in 2024 found that investors’ judgements were more favourable when noun framing accompanied stable financial performance, while verb framing worked better with growing performance. The researchers examined these effects across three experiments.

Their explanation: use of nouns suggests stability; use of verbs suggests movement.

Consider these illustrative examples:

Each description gives audiences a different impression of where the business stands. That’s why leaders should choose verbs and nouns carefully: these words can exaggerate a leader’s authority or make growth plans sound more credible than the evidence warrants.

Upbeat Language Can Also Backfire

A separate study, published in the Journal of Accounting Research in 2014, used MBA students to examine financial disclosures. When the disclosures were difficult to read, positive language increased earnings’ judgements among less sophisticated participants but lowered them among more sophisticated participants. You can frame things positively, even exaggerate results to less knowledgeable audiences but if you’re presenting to people that understand financials or investing, positive framing mixed with unclear or convoluted explanations are viewed suspiciously.

The takeaway: Saying things like “our strongest performance ever” or “unprecedented growth” without credible numbers make you look and sound untrustworthy.

Show the Achievement and the Trade-off

Imagine revenue rises from $20 million to $25 million, operating profit falls from $2 million to $1 million, and the company spends $2 million entering a new market.

The same figures can create very different impressions.

Positive and realistic:
“Revenue grew 25% to $25 million, and we remained profitable while spending $2 million entering a new market. Operating profit halved to $1 million. Further investment will depend on evidence of customer demand and acceptable margins.”

That final sentence must reflect an actual management commitment.

Negative and incomplete:
“Operating profit halved despite a $5 million increase in revenue.”

Accurate, but it leaves out the expansion spending that could help explain the result.

Overly optimistic:
“Our outstanding growth and strategic expansion put us on course for stronger profits.”

Revenue growth and expansion spending alone don’t establish that stronger profits will follow.

Positive framing should make genuine achievements visible while explaining the trade-offs. Establish what caused the profit decline, distinguish expected benefits from demonstrated results, and explain how you’ll assess progress.

Give people reasons for confidence that the evidence can support.

Also, think about the individuals reading your financial story:
Investors assess returns and risk. Customers are examining your delivery capability and capacity. Employees consider resources and stability. Talented recruits weigh whether your future potential justifies joining.

Your annual report or media coverage may reach them all. Address their different questions while keeping the underlying account consistent.

Before presenting results, ask: what are we leading people to believe about the business?

Your CEO, finance and communication teams should work on this together. Make sure to acknowledge uncertainty, as doing this is more credible than projecting complete confidence. Explain what you’ve factored into your plans, the options you have if conditions change and what would trigger a different course. That tells a stronger story: you understand the risks and are prepared if this should eventuate.

The point is to present results honestly: don’t exaggerate the positives or overlook genuine progress.

Presenting figures requires storytelling nuance and a thoughtful approach to positive framing, otherwise, you may lose investors or customers.

Communication That Earns Influence

In Complex Pricing, Storytelling is Key. Just Keep it Short.

Your pricing can be accurate and transparent, yet senior buyers may struggle to understand the investment.

For a multimillion-dollar ERP implementation or technology services’ deal involving several partners, the challenge is to simplify the figures without oversimplifying the decision.

Table stakes: provide a concise commercial summary - what the buyer will pay, what’s included, the expected business outcomes and what must happen to achieve them.

For example: “The proposed three-year investment is $6 million including implementation, partner licences and support. The business case forecasts $2 million in annual operating savings from year two, dependent on adoption and retiring the existing systems.”

Those dependencies belong beside the benefits. Make additional buyer costs and exclusions equally clear.

Then prepare to frame the discussion and story around the decision-makers’ possible questions, contextualised to roles and responsibilities. For example, a CEO may prioritise how the investment supports growth or improves operating performance. A CFO may probe cash flow, payback, assumptions and cost exposure.

The edge when presenting pricing to tech buyers is to eloquently connect accurate figures (both summary and detailed) to realistic business outcomes using simple storytelling techniques. Then pause. (Do not overstate.)

Let buyers examine the figures and the story around them and ask questions. You love questions - that is if you’re prepared, and you know the numbers inside out.

Knowing your numbers intimately gives you the confidence to say less and make your story arc count.

Anthropic’s IPO: A Powerful Story. A Risky Proposition?

Anthropic’s IPO prospectus presents extraordinary growth alongside extraordinary risks.

The Claude developer filed on 26 October 2026, reporting US$16.3 billion in revenue and a US$693 million operating loss for the six months ended 30 June. For the second quarter alone, it reported US$974 million in operating profit.

Its US$80.7 billion first-half net loss presents a different picture, but largely reflects non-cash accounting changes linked to financing instruments, rather than cash spent.

The positive narrative is rapid adoption and improving operating performance. The concern is whether those improvements can withstand enormous future computing commitments.

Investor sentiment remains mixed. Reuters reports that some investors lowered valuation expectations from around US$2 trillion to US$1.5 trillion after financial disclosures. Others remain enthusiastic about buying into a leading AI business.

Then there’s Anthropic’s warning that its technology could pose catastrophic risks to humanity. It’s an unusual investment proposition: help fund the future, while acknowledging it could be dangerous.

The IPO will test whether confidence in Anthropic’s potential outweighs concerns about its costs, valuation and risks.

My POV

Anthropic tells a powerful story, exposing weaknesses alongside extraordinary potential. But is it well told, or could it bite them in the proverbial? Amodei may be betting that believers will invest despite the warnings. Going public gives Anthropic access to more investors to help meet its growing funding needs. The test is whether candour builds confidence or gives investors reasons to hesitate.

Phrase of the Week

Adjusted Earnings: Profit recalculated to exclude selected costs or gains, helping explain underlying performance, or flattering it, depending on what’s removed and why.

A question running through this week’s issue: how much confidence comes from the figures, and how much from believing the story around them?

Put Your Financial Story to the Test

Your figures may be accurate, but what conclusions does your presentation invite? Before sharing results, use this five-part guide to build a positive story that stands up to scrutiny.

1. Result: what changed?
State the material results using consistent measures and meaningful comparisons. Show genuine achievements alongside setbacks that could affect someone’s assessment. If revenue rose while margins fell, explain both.

2. Cause: what explains the change?
Separate verified causes from management’s interpretation. Did new customers drive growth, or did acquisitions and discounts contribute? Don’t attribute a profit decline to expansion spending without establishing the connection.

3. Trade-off: what did progress cost?
Explain the spending, pressure or uncertainty accompanying the achievement. Be clear about which benefits have materialised and which remain expectations. “Investing for growth” describes an intention; it doesn’t demonstrate a return.

4. Response: what are you doing?
Show how you’ve factored uncertainty into your plans. Explain the options available if conditions change and what would trigger a different course. Only describe preparations and commitments you can substantiate.

5. Next test: what would demonstrate progress?
Identify the milestones that will support further investment, or prompt a rethink. Distinguish measures of activity, such as launching a product, from evidence of commercial progress, such as profitable customer demand.

Then examine your language. Are you describing an established position, work underway or an ambition? Does “an international operator” accurately describe the business, or would “entering our first overseas market” be more truthful?

Consider investors, customers, employees and potential recruits. Their questions differ, but the underlying account should remain consistent.

Use AI to challenge your draft.

Paste your draft and supporting figures into the prompt below, using an approved AI tool for confidential information:

PROMPT

Review this financial narrative against the five checks: result, cause, trade-off, response and next test. Identify unsupported claims, missing context, unfair comparisons and wording that implies more certainty or capability than the evidence supports. Explain how different audiences might interpret it. Suggest positive, realistic wording without inventing evidence or removing material setbacks. Flag questions for our finance team to verify.

Presenting financial results takes preparation and careful judgement. A well-framed story clarifies progress, acknowledges uncertainty, while giving people sound reasons to be confident in your numbers and company.

If this helped you think differently about communication, forward this newsletter to someone who leads, sells or explains complex ideas in tech.