Pull the real budget variances out of a monthly report for the CFO

About this exercise

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.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

• Not giving her rule. The AI includes the biggest number it sees, even the timing item. Try: Add: "Only variances over $10,000 that aren't timing."
• Missing the correction. The freight row looks final, and the fix is in a note below. Try: Add: "Use the controller's corrected freight numbers."
• Not ordering by size. The AI follows the report's row order. Try: Add: "Largest variance first."
• Not limiting the bullets. The AI writes a table or a bullet for every row. Try: Be exact: "At most 3 bullets, plain text."
• Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for "under 60 words" and it often lands well over. Try: Cap each part instead: "each line under 14 words."

What a strong prompt includes

• Limits the bullets
• States her rule
• Uses the correction
• Orders by size
• Asks for $ and %

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