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Decide which purchases belong in the October accrual

  • For Accountants
  • You practice Setting limits and rules
  • Time about 5 minutes
  • Level Advanced

About this exercise

You're deciding which purchases to accrue at October 31. Write a prompt for a markdown table with columns PO, Amount, Month and Reason, one row per PO in order, where Month is exactly October or November, and Reason is under 8 words. Follow the cutoff rules in the material. After the table add one last line: "October accrual total:" with the sum shown. Under 140 words.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Using the invoice date. The AI accrues PO 802 because it was invoiced Oct 30. Try: Say: "The invoice date does not decide the month."
  • Ignoring FOB terms. The AI treats PO 803 and PO 804 the same. Try: Add: "FOB shipping point = ship date; FOB destination = receipt date."
  • Wrong total. The AI adds all five or only the invoiced ones. Try: Add: "Total only the October rows, shown as a sum."
  • Long reasons. The AI writes full sentences. Try: Add: "Reason under 8 words."
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting and runs past word limits. Try: Ask for fewer words than the real cap and keep each part short.

What a strong prompt includes

  • Names the columns
  • States the cutoff rules
  • Rejects invoice date
  • Asks for the total line
  • Caps length

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