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Check every number in a board memo against the financials
Practice: Catching mistakes and made-up facts. About 5 minutes.
About this exercise
Your CFO's board memo paragraph goes out tonight. Ask for a number check: exactly 4 numbered lines, one per figure in the paragraph in the order they appear, each formatted 'figure - Correct' or 'figure - Wrong: should be X'. Plain text, nothing else. Write a prompt that gets that check.
Common mistakes when you ask AI for this
- Asking "are the numbers right?". The AI replies in a paragraph and may skip a figure. Try: Set it: "Exactly 4 numbered lines, one per figure, in order."
- Trusting the draft. The AI may accept 12% because it sounds reasonable, or miss that $2.1M is last month's cash. Try: Add: "Check each figure against the final financials."
- Wordy verdicts. AI explains each number in sentences, which is slow to scan at 7:55 pm. Try: Show it: "Format: 12% - Wrong: should be 9.1%. Nothing else. Plain text."
What a strong prompt includes
- Sets the number of lines
- Checks against the financials
- Shows the verdict shape
- Keeps the order
- Asks for plain text
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