{"id":"pro-fin-variance-cfo-bullets","audience":"finance","category":"summarizing","technique":"constraints","title":"Pull the real budget variances out of a monthly report for the CFO","free":false,"task":"Your CFO wants October's budget variances in three bullets for her phone. You want at most 3 bullets under 60 words, plain text, largest variance first, each with the dollar amount and percent. Follow her rule: only variances over $10,000 that aren't timing differences, and use the controller's corrected number. Write a prompt that gets you exactly that.","materialLabel":"Variance report (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"October Budget vs. Actual - Pinecrest Outdoor Co.\n\nLine item | Budget | Actual | Variance | Note\nFreight & shipping | $48,000 | $71,000 | +$23,000 (48%) | Carrier fuel surcharge + rush orders for holiday stock\nMarketing - paid social | $35,000 | $22,000 | -$13,000 (-37%) | TIMING: campaign moved to Nov, will reverse next month\nTemp labor (warehouse) | $20,000 | $34,000 | +$14,000 (70%) | Peak season staffing, started 2 weeks early\nSoftware subscriptions | $12,000 | $15,500 | +$3,500 (29%) | New inventory tool\nStore rent | $60,000 | $60,000 | $0 | -\nReturns processing | $18,000 | $30,500 | +$12,500 (69%) | Defective tent batch (Model T4)\n\nController's note (Nov 6): \"Freight actual was overstated by $5,000 (a duplicate invoice). Correct freight actual is $66,000, variance +$18,000 (38%).\"\n\nCFO's standing rule: \"Only show me variances over $10,000 that aren't timing. Biggest first.\"\n\nOther: auditors arrive Jan 12. Office closed Nov 27-28.","rules":[{"type":"maxBullets","max":3},{"type":"maxWords","max":60},{"type":"plainText"}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Not giving her rule","why":"The AI includes the biggest number it sees, even the timing item.","fix":"Add: \"Only variances over $10,000 that aren't timing.\"","checks":["r0","r2"]},{"title":"Missing the correction","why":"The freight row looks final, and the fix is in a note below.","fix":"Add: \"Use the controller's corrected freight numbers.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Not ordering by size","why":"The AI follows the report's row order.","fix":"Add: \"Largest variance first.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Not limiting the bullets","why":"The AI writes a table or a bullet for every row.","fix":"Be exact: \"At most 3 bullets, plain text.\"","checks":["maxBullets","plainText"]},{"title":"Trusting the AI to count words","why":"AI is bad at counting. Ask for \"under 60 words\" and it often lands well over.","fix":"Cap each part instead: \"each line under 14 words.\"","checks":["maxWords"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Limits the bullets","patterns":["\\b(3|three)\\b.{0,15}bullet","bullet.{0,20}\\b(3|three)\\b"]},{"label":"States her rule","patterns":["10,?000","timing","her rule","cfo"]},{"label":"Uses the correction","patterns":["correct","controller","18,?000","duplicate"]},{"label":"Orders by size","patterns":["largest","biggest","sort"]},{"label":"Asks for $ and %","patterns":["percent","%","dollar"]}],"hint":"The CFO already told you what she wants to see. Put her rule in the prompt, plus the correction and the order.","rubricLabels":["Exactly the three qualifying variances appear, largest first: freight (+$18,000), temp labor (+$14,000), returns processing (+$12,500)","Freight uses the corrected figures (+$18,000, 38%), not +$23,000 or 48%, and each bullet gives a dollar amount and a percent","Leaves out the paid social timing variance, the small software variance and the unrelated notes (auditors, office closure)"]}