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Rank departments by cost per head with corrected headcount

  • For FP&A and financial analysts
  • You practice Asking for a format you can use
  • Time about 5 minutes
  • Level Beginner

About this exercise

You're comparing departments for the CFO. Write a prompt for a markdown table with columns Rank, Department, Opex, Heads and Per head, ranked highest cost per head first, with Per head shown as a whole-dollar amount. Use the corrected Engineering headcount. After the table add one line starting "Spread:" showing the highest minus the lowest per-head amount. No recommendations. Under 100 words.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Using the old roster. The AI divides by 60 and gets $40,833 for Engineering. Try: Say: "Use HR's corrected Engineering headcount of 70."
  • Ranking lowest first. The AI sorts ascending or by total spend. Try: Add: "Rank highest cost per head first."
  • Adding advice. The AI recommends trimming G&A. Try: Add: "State facts only; no recommendations."
  • 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
  • Uses the correction
  • Sets the ranking order
  • Adds the spread line
  • Caps length

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