Upset manipulated figures losing a penny increase (4,2)
I believe the answer is:
step up
'increase' is the definition.
(stepping up is a kind of increasing)
'upset manipulated figures losing a penny' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'upset' is 'stepu' which is located in the answer.
'penny' could be 'p' (short for pence) and 'p' is found within the answer.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
(Other definitions for step up that I've seen before include "Raise by stages" , "Accelerate - promotion" , "Sudden increase (in rate, output, etc)" , "Advancement (on a ladder or career)" , "Increase as with pace - or ascend stair?" .)