I can't see how that would be, but you're not really missing much either way tbh.
well the start is 5, and then each choice can only decrease it by 1 (e.g. asking for help -1). So I choose to not ask for any help and stay on 5, but then they aren't impressed and give -1 (no choice, forced), resulting in always 4. So that's how it can (and mostly will) be.
edit: I actually managed to not get the -1 penalty after a lot of attempts, you need to do a somewhat specific rotation of debt collection, research and expanding clients to hit the goal, it seems like.