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Compare staffing agency invoiced hours with approved timesheets
- For Finance and accounting
- You practice Catching mistakes and made-up facts
- Time about 5 minutes
- Level Intermediate
About this exercise
Write a prompt for a markdown table with columns Worker, Billed, Signed and Over, one row per worker, where Over is billed hours minus signed hours. After the table add one line: "Variance: N hours x $24 = $X - AP decides." Use the approved timesheets as the record. Under 75 words.
Common mistakes when you ask AI for this
- Trusting the agency note. The AI accepts Dee's Saturday shift and shows zero variance. Try: Say: "The approved timesheets are the record."
- Wrong Over direction. The AI subtracts the other way and shows negative numbers. Try: Say: "Over = billed hours minus signed hours."
- Last line format. The AI writes a paragraph or decides to dispute. Try: Say: "Last line: Variance: N hours x $24 = $X - AP decides."
- Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting and usually runs long, so a vague "keep it short" lands over the limit. Try: Cap each part instead of the total, for example "each line under 15 words".
What a strong prompt includes
- Names the table columns
- Defines Over
- Names the record
- Gives the last line format
- Sets a length limit
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