{"id":"fpa-variance-questions-for-owner","audience":"fpa","category":"finance-work","track":"finance","technique":"audience","level":"beginner","title":"Write three questions for a budget owner about a variance","free":false,"task":"You're preparing for a budget review meeting with the Facilities manager. Write a prompt for exactly 3 numbered questions, each ending with a question mark, under 25 words, and citing a dollar figure from the variance table. Do not state any conclusion or cause yourself; questions only. One question must be about the repair item that might be capital. Plain text, no intro.","materialLabel":"Facilities variance table and notes (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"FACILITIES - October 2026 variance to budget (over budget is shown as a positive number)\n\nUtilities: budget $31,000, actual $40,000, over $9,000\nRepairs and maintenance: budget $12,000, actual $19,500, over $7,500\nCleaning: budget $14,000, actual $16,000, over $2,000\nTotal over budget: $18,500\n\nDetail on repairs (from the AP ledger): $5,000 Hartwell Roofing - 'replace flashing and 40 sq ft of roof membrane'; $2,500 various small repairs.\n\nNotes: the controller has not decided whether the roofing work is a repair (expense) or an improvement (capital). The Facilities manager, Omar, said in an email that 'the roof was an emergency and the cold weather pushed up heating.' Nobody has checked utility usage against rates.","rules":[{"type":"plainText"},{"type":"numberedItems","count":3},{"type":"maxWords","max":90}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Sets exactly 3 numbered questions","patterns":["3 numbered","exactly 3","1\\."]},{"label":"Requires a figure","patterns":["dollar figure","cite"]},{"label":"Names the roofing item","patterns":["roof","hartwell","capital"]},{"label":"Asks only","patterns":["ask only","questions only","do not state"]},{"label":"Caps length","patterns":["\\d+\\s*words","plain"]}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Stating causes as fact","why":"The AI writes 'Utilities are up because of the cold weather.'","fix":"Add: \"Ask only. Do not state causes or conclusions as fact.\"","checks":["r2"]},{"title":"Statements instead of questions","why":"The AI lists observations with no question marks.","fix":"Say: \"Each ends with a question mark.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Missing the capital question","why":"The AI asks generic 'why is it over?' questions.","fix":"Add: \"One question must ask about the $5,000 Hartwell Roofing item.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Wrong shape","why":"The AI adds an intro and bold headings.","fix":"Say: \"Exactly 3 numbered lines starting with 1.\"","checks":["numberedItems","plainText"]},{"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":"The best review questions use the numbers and stay neutral. Ask for exactly three, with a figure in each and no causes asserted.","rubricLabels":["Has exactly 3 numbered questions, each ending with a question mark and each citing a dollar figure from the table (such as $9,000, $7,500, $2,000, $5,000 or $18,500)","One question asks about the $5,000 Hartwell Roofing item, such as whether it is an expense or a capital item, without saying it is capital","No question states a cause or conclusion as fact (such as that the cold weather raised utilities), and none is a statement"]}