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Forecast collections from the AR aging using bucket collection rates

  • For FP&A and financial analysts
  • You practice Catching mistakes and made-up facts
  • Time about 5 minutes
  • Level Intermediate

About this exercise

You're forecasting next month's cash collections from the AR aging. Write a prompt for plain text with lines starting "Current:", "1-30:", "31-60:", "61-90:", "90+:", "Total expected:" and "Not expected:", each with the math in $K. Use the historical collection rate for each bucket. Don't mention the collections team's optimism. Under 90 words. No bullets or numbering.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Applying one rate to all. The AI uses 95% on $193K and gets $183.4K. Try: Say: "Use each bucket's historical rate only."
  • Echoing the team's 95%. The AI mentions the target. Try: Add: "Do not mention the collections team's 95% belief."
  • No not-expected line. The AI skips what isn't expected. Try: Add: "Not expected: total AR minus total expected."
  • Markdown extras. The AI adds bold labels, headings and a closing note. Try: Say: "Plain text, no bold. Output only the lines asked for."
  • 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 line short.

What a strong prompt includes

  • Names the lines
  • Uses bucket rates
  • Asks for the total
  • Bans the belief
  • Caps length

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