The sequence
A strategy team requests support for a market estimate. A model provides a precise figure and an authoritative-looking publication title. The team adds the figure to a Board deck. Slide 64 links to a document with a similar name but no such number. Three reviewers improve layout and shorten the footnote.
The exposure
The figure appears in an officer’s remarks, an investor response and the model used to justify a large acquisition. A lender later relies on the same estimate. When the source cannot be produced, financing pauses while Legal assesses corrections and claims, Finance rebuilds the valuation and Internal Audit reconstructs the approvals. One invented figure has entered multiple decisions that cannot be unwound by deleting slide 64.
The control point
Open the original publication and locate the number before using it. If it cannot be found, the figure stays out of the deck. A model can assist a search; it cannot serve as a source for the result of that search.
Training question
At which approval gate did the team last have a practical chance to stop the number, and who was accountable for checking it? Counting the people who saw the slide does not answer either question.
