present participle after a noun

Question

below is the original sentence I would like to say:

"I would like to help the team understand what are the factors that have the potential to sway our financials significantly"

I am wondering can I change the sentence to below:

"I would like to help the team understand what are the factors having the potential to sway our financials significantly"

Thanks

Answer 1

Both are correct but the syntax is a little unusual because, in both cases, you've put the subject (factors) after the verb (are). It's like you're stating the question that you want to propose to the group but you're embedding it in another sentence without any punctuation to make it clear that's what you're doing. "I would like to help the team understand what the factors are that have the potential to sway our financials significantly." would be clearer. Putting the subject first makes it read like a statement rather than a question in disguise.

That's if you want to stick to your general structure. I think it would be even clearer just to say, "I would like to help the team understand the factors that have the potential to sway our financials significantly."