A budget office asks the model to flag any figure not present in the attached spreadsheet rather than interpolate missing values. What crafting rule is enforced?

Municipal budget summaries must stay tethered to source workbooks. The crafting rule enforced here is preventing numeric fabrication by flagging any figure not present in the attached spreadsheet rather than verifying numeric consistency by flagging figures absent from the attached municipal spreadsheet. When the model focuses on verifying numeric consistency, standardizing numeric formatting, or enhancing numeric clarity by flagging figures absent from the source, it mislabels the anti-fabrication rule and council documents can look complete while the fabrication safeguard is misstated. Explicit flagging preserves honesty: staff see gaps and can fix the sheet or document the omission rather than laundering guesses into official finance narrative. Verifying numeric consistency by flagging figures absent from the attached municipal spreadsheet fails because it frames flagging as a consistency check rather than as a bar on invention; it does not satisfy the requirement to prevent numeric fabrication. Standardizing numeric formatting by flagging figures absent from the attached municipal spreadsheet fails because it frames flagging as formatting polish rather than as a bar on invention; it does not satisfy the requirement to prevent numeric fabrication. Enhancing numeric clarity by flagging figures absent from the attached municipal spreadsheet fails because it frames flagging as a clarity aid rather than as a bar on invention; it does not satisfy the requirement to prevent numeric fabrication. Exam caveat: flagging missing figures is not permission to leave council uninformed. The rule stops fabrication; finance staff still must resolve gaps through corrected data or explicit, labeled estimates outside the AI’s invented cells. Operational check: instruct the model to cite sheet and cell or return UNKNOWN for every numeric claim; reject any draft that contains numbers absent from the attachment; reconcile flagged gaps in the source workbook before the packet advances to council.