The following is a guest post from Oreoluwa Onabowale, FP&A leader at GE Vernova. Opinions are the author’s own.
Accuracy is overrated in finance. Influence is what changes outcomes. I did not always believe that, but experience taught me otherwise.
I have delivered forecasts that proved correct down to the decimal, yet leadership pressed forward in a different direction. By the time results landed as I had warned, the moment to act had passed. Accuracy earned me credibility, but it did not change the decision. The lesson was clear: Numbers rarely speak for themselves. Translation, timing and diplomacy often matter more.
Why accuracy alone doesn’t move the business
I once raised a warning about margin erosion from a discount strategy. The model was solid, the assumptions tested, the math bulletproof. But I brought it up in the middle of a crowded review. Commercial leaders were focused on closing year-end deals, the CFO was pushing to hit revenue targets and my point landed with a polite nod before the room moved on. Three months later, margins fell exactly as projected. I was right, but I had not influenced the outcome.
Contrast that with a moment a few years later. Operations was proud of the new throughput gains, but I could see that product mix would eat away most of the benefit. Instead of waiting for the meeting, I sat down with the ops lead a week early. We walked through the numbers together and aligned on the story before it reached the table. When the review came, I did not raise the concern alone. The ops lead reinforced it in their own words, and leadership adjusted course immediately. The numbers had not changed, but the outcome had.
The same principle plays out at the board level. I have been in reviews where the data clearly showed risk ahead, but the room did not need another model. It needed finance to frame the issue in an actionable way: “If we stay on this path, margins compress by 200 basis points, but if we accelerate sourcing negotiations, we recover half within the year.” That framing turned a line item into a decision. Influence changed the direction of the conversation.
Influence is the real currency
Soft power in finance does not mean bending the truth. It means ensuring the truth is understood and acted upon.
It comes down to three things:
- Translation. Every function speaks a different language: sales in bookings, ops in throughput, sourcing in inflation, product in mix.
- Timing. Even the best analysis will be ignored if delivered in the wrong moment.
- Diplomacy. Telling a leader, “Your plan will not work,” creates defensiveness, while asking, “How will this affect sourcing savings?” invites collaboration.
Forecasting is also more political than we like to admit. Sales leans toward optimism, ops prefers conservatism and marketing pushes for spend. Everyone negotiates in numbers, and FP&A sits at the intersection. Rely on accuracy alone, and finance becomes the referee, calling fouls but not shaping the game. Use influence, and finance becomes the coach, guiding assumptions, testing logic and helping the business balance ambition with realism.
Accuracy is necessary, but it is only the ticket to the table. Influence is what makes the seat matter. And as AI continues to automate the mechanics of accuracy, influence will only grow more important. It will be the currency that defines the next generation of finance leaders.
The leadership multiplier
Looking back, the moments that shaped my career were not when I had the most precise numbers. They were when I shaped the conversation so the numbers mattered. Influence is the multiplier of accuracy. One without the other rarely changes outcomes. Together, they drive decisions.
The finance leaders of the future will not be measured by how fast they can build a forecast. They will be measured by whether they can take that forecast and turn it into action. That requires more than modeling skill. It requires being a teacher, helping the business see its impact on the P&L. It requires being a challenger, asking the questions others hesitate to raise. And it requires being a diplomat, balancing truth with trust so the message is heard.
When I mentor finance professionals, I tell them: Accuracy gets you into the room, but influence keeps you there. Influence compounds. The more you use it, the more naturally people turn to finance for guidance. And over time, it is influence that builds the credibility needed to shape strategy at the highest levels.
Numbers do not speak for themselves. Finance does. And the future of FP&A will be written by those who use influence to turn accuracy into action.
