Financial Storytelling as a Professional Communication Practice for Engaging Organizational Decision Makers

Organizations increasingly rely on financial data to guide strategic and operational decisions, yet decision makers often struggle to engage with complex quantitative information. As a result, finance professionals are increasingly required to translate numerical outputs into clear and meaningful explanations that support understanding, alignment, and action. Financial storytelling provides a communication approach that connects financial information with context, relevance, and organizational priorities while making complex data more accessible to diverse audiences. This study examines financial storytelling as a professional communication practice used by senior finance professionals to engage organizational decision makers. Using a qualitative narrative inquiry design, interviews were conducted with 20 chief financial officers and senior finance leaders across the entertainment and media industries. Data were analyzed using narrative and template analysis supported by NVivo. Findings identify six recurring financial storytelling strategies: asking and encouraging questions, pausing for processing and reflection, creating relevance through real and financial stories, using metaphors and analogies, integrating feedback in real time, and continuously reviewing and improving the story. These strategies demonstrate that effective financial storytelling involves interactive, emotional, and intellectual dimensions of audience engagement. The findings contribute to understanding how finance leaders move beyond the presentation of financial data to create communication that encourages participation, improves accessibility, and connects information with organizational decision making. The study offers practical guidance for finance professionals responsible for explaining complex financial information and engaging diverse audiences in organizational settings.