{"id":"fpa-expense-fy-landing-table","audience":"fpa","category":"finance-work","track":"finance","technique":"format","level":"intermediate","title":"Show quarterly actuals plus a Q4 forecast against budget","free":false,"task":"You're showing the expected full-year opex landing to the CFO. Write a prompt for a markdown table with columns Quarter | Budget | Actual or forecast | Variance, rows Q1 to Q4 and a Total row, in $M. Variance = actual or forecast minus budget with a sign (positive is over budget). Then one line starting \"Full-year variance:\" with the percent of full-year budget. Use the Q4 forecast figure, not anything unconfirmed. No commentary. Under 90 words. Never use the words favorable or unfavorable.","materialLabel":"Quarterly opex and Q4 forecast ($M) (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"FY26 OPEX LANDING - $ millions, Pinecrest Software\n\nQuarter | Budget | Actual (Q1-Q3) or forecast (Q4)\nQ1 | 2.0 | 2.0 (actual)\nQ2 | 2.1 | 2.2 (actual)\nQ3 | 2.1 | 2.1 (actual)\nQ4 | 2.2 | 2.3 (forecast)\nTotal budget: 8.4\n\nNotes: HR says two Q4 hires might start in December, which could add about 0.1 to Q4. No offers are out and the Q4 forecast above does not include them. The CFO asked for the landing using only the figures above.","rules":[{"type":"maxWords","max":90},{"type":"maxBullets","max":0}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Names the columns","patterns":["quarter.*budget.*actual or forecast.*variance","columns"]},{"label":"Gives the sign convention","patterns":["positive.*over","sign"]},{"label":"Asks for the percent line","patterns":["full-year variance"]},{"label":"Bans the unconfirmed hires","patterns":["(do not|don'?t).*(hires|december)"]},{"label":"Limits output","patterns":["no commentary"]}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Adding the possible hires","why":"The AI adds 0.1 to Q4 and lands at +0.3.","fix":"Add: \"Use only the figures above; do not mention the possible hires.\"","checks":["r2"]},{"title":"Wrong variance direction","why":"The AI subtracts actual from budget.","fix":"Say: \"Variance = actual or forecast minus budget.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"No percent line","why":"The AI ends after the table.","fix":"Add: 'A line starting \"Full-year variance:\" with the percent.'","checks":["r2"]},{"title":"Wrong table shape","why":"The AI drops the Total row.","fix":"Say: \"Rows Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, Total.\"","checks":["r0","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":"A landing table mixes actuals and a forecast. Give the sign rule, the total row and a ban on unconfirmed adds.","rubricLabels":["Table has the columns Quarter | Budget | Actual or forecast | Variance with rows Q1 to Q4 and Total","Variances are 0.0, +0.1, 0.0, +0.1 and the Total row shows budget 8.4, actual or forecast 8.6 and variance +0.2","The line starting \"Full-year variance:\" shows +0.2 / 8.4 = 2.4% over budget, and the output never mentions the possible December hires, and the output never uses the words favorable or unfavorable"]}