{"id":"fpa-days-of-cash-lines","audience":"fpa","category":"finance-work","track":"finance","technique":"constraints","level":"beginner","title":"Compute days of cash using cash costs only","free":false,"task":"You're giving the CFO a quick days-of-cash figure. Write a prompt for plain text with lines starting \"Cash operating costs:\", \"Per day:\" and \"Days of cash:\", each with the math. Use 30 days per month and remove non-cash costs. Don't mention financing plans or fundraising anywhere. Under 60 words. No bullets or numbering.","materialLabel":"Cash balance and monthly cost breakdown (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"DAYS OF CASH INPUTS - Orchard Analytics, Nov 2026\n\nCash and equivalents: $3,000,000\nTotal monthly operating costs: $450,000, which includes $50,000 of depreciation and amortization (non-cash).\n\nMethod: days of cash = cash / (cash operating costs per month / 30). Use cash costs only; non-cash items are removed.\n\nNotes: the CEO is considering raising a loan next year and asked whether that changes the answer. It does not; this metric uses only current cash and current costs. Revenue receipts are not included in this simple measure.","rules":[{"type":"plainText"},{"type":"maxWords","max":60},{"type":"maxBullets","max":0}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Names the three lines","patterns":["cash operating costs","per day","days of cash"]},{"label":"Removes non-cash costs","patterns":["depreciation","non.?cash"]},{"label":"Gives the divisor","patterns":["/ 30"]},{"label":"Bans financing talk","patterns":["(do not|don'?t).*(loan|financing)"]},{"label":"Caps length","patterns":["\\d+\\s*words","plain"]}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Including depreciation","why":"The AI uses $450,000 and shows 200 days.","fix":"Say: \"Remove depreciation and amortization first.\"","checks":["r0","r1"]},{"title":"Mentioning the loan","why":"The AI adds a note about the possible loan.","fix":"Add: \"Do not mention loans, fundraising or financing.\"","checks":["r2"]},{"title":"Wrong day basis","why":"The AI divides by 365 or 31.","fix":"Add: \"Per day = cash costs / 30.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Markdown extras","why":"The AI adds bold labels, headings and a closing note.","fix":"Say: \"Plain text, no bold. Output only the lines asked for.\"","checks":["plainText","maxBullets"]},{"title":"Trusting the AI to count words","why":"AI is bad at counting and runs past word limits.","fix":"Ask for fewer words than the real cap and keep each line short.","checks":["maxWords"]}],"hint":"Days of cash uses cash costs, not total costs. State what to remove, the day basis and what not to mention.","rubricLabels":["The line starting \"Cash operating costs:\" shows $450,000 - $50,000 = $400,000 per month","The line starting \"Per day:\" shows $400,000 / 30 = $13,333.33 and the line starting \"Days of cash:\" shows $3,000,000 / $13,333.33 = 225.0 days","The output never mentions a loan, fundraising or financing plans"]}