Finance teams are often judged on the investments they approve. A new system goes live, the team tracks performance and someone eventually calculates the return.
Rejected investments rarely get the same treatment. A proposal to expand the team, launch a product or fund a new capability can disappear the moment finance says no. There is no line on the P&L, no model to revisit and no record of what the opportunity might have been worth.
That asymmetry matters more as businesses ask finance to take on a bigger role in value creation. Deloitte puts corporate risk appetite at 15%, below the long-run average of 25%, while EY finds that 60% of CFOs want to lead on value creation, but only 25% front vital investment decisions. That tension leaves many finance leaders carrying more responsibility and less room for error.
On two recent episodes of The CFO Playbook podcast, Andy Mullineaux, CFO at Moke International, and Brad Channer, CFO at UBIO, explored a question that sits at the heart of the issue: what is the real cost of saying no?
Why “no” often feels safest
For many CFOs, saying no is not a sign of caution gone too far. It is often the only sensible answer when the numbers are incomplete.
Late management accounts, a queue of unapproved invoices and limited confidence in the data create a narrow decision window. In that situation, pushing an investment into the safe zone feels responsible. It protects cash, keeps payroll covered and avoids a decision that cannot be defended later.
Andy argues that this instinct can hide a different problem. Too often, finance teams choose the safest option without fully testing the downside. That can mean avoiding a risk that was always manageable, simply because nobody took the time to work through it properly.
He puts it plainly: prudence should mean weighing risk on merit, not rejecting it by default.
Better numbers lead to better decisions
The difference between a confident yes and a cautious no is rarely bravery. More often than not, it comes down to how well finance knows the numbers.
Andy keeps Moke’s central finance team small. Operational teams do the first-line work, coding invoices and expenses to the right budget line before anything reaches him. By the time he reviews the figures, they are already checked and categorised, which gives him the clarity to act quickly.
That same closeness to the numbers shows up outside the office, too. On a weekend visit to Moke’s warehouse, Andy found himself tracing which indicator stalks belonged to which car because the people who built those cars had moved on. It is a useful reminder that confidence often comes from understanding the detail, not from sitting back from it.
That level of knowledge changes the quality of the decision. When finance can see the numbers clearly, it can separate a genuine risk from an uncomfortable unknown.
Confidence starts with preparation
Brad Channer brings a different route to the same conclusion. Before joining UBIO, he worked in theatre and TV, and later built an app called Free Beer after moving to the UK. His path into finance gave him, in his own words, “scars up the wazoo”, but it also gave him a strong view of what good finance leadership looks like.
For Brad, confidence comes from preparation. He calls his work ‘narrating the numbers’, which is a useful way to describe the modern CFO role. Finance does not just report the figures. It frames them so the business understands what matters.
That means thinking carefully about the audience before building the report. What does the CEO need to know? What will the board worry about? Which figure will change the conversation, and which one will only create noise?
Brad gives a simple example. A healthy cash flow can look alarming if it appears in red. The number may be fine, but the colour triggers a negative reaction. The lesson is straightforward: present the numbers in a way that helps people read them correctly.
Preparation gives finance the confidence to make a decision and explain it well.
The cost of waiting too long
Moke’s 2025 plan centred on US expansion. Dealer groups were lined up on the East and West Coasts, and manufacturing had been brought in-house. Then tariffs changed the picture overnight.
Because Andy knew the margins in detail, he quickly saw that Moke could not absorb the new cost. So he went straight to the customers and asked them to move on the price. Most agreed.
That response worked because the finance team had done the groundwork. Andy could see the impact, explain it clearly and move early. Good data, product knowledge and speed created room for a difficult conversation.
That is where the cost of saying no becomes visible. If finance waits too long, it may lose the chance to shape the outcome. By the time the business acts, the options have narrowed.
A cautious no can protect the business in the short term. But it can also leave value on the table if finance has not properly tested the opportunity.
Finance needs to lead on value creation
Neither Andy nor Brad argues for reckless spending. Both speak from a place of discipline. Andy is prudent when he needs to be. Brad relies on preparation rather than impulse. They share a close working relationship with the numbers, and that is what gives them confidence.
That matters because finance leaders increasingly want a bigger seat at the table. If they want to lead on value creation, they need the visibility to judge risk properly and the confidence to back the right opportunities.
The answer is not to say yes to everything. It is to know the numbers well enough to say yes where it counts.
Finance teams that understand their data, own the detail and prepare well are better placed to move from gatekeeping to growth. They can challenge weak ideas, support stronger ones and make faster decisions when the business needs them.
With Soldo, finance teams get clearer visibility over spend as it happens, not weeks later. That makes it easier to spot risks, maintain control, and make decisions with more confidence. When the numbers are clearer, the right answer becomes easier to see.
