Skills for Work: Business Finance
Business Finance is a Pearson Skills for Work unit in which learners learn how small businesses and other institutions raise money, manage costs, save money and use budgets and financial plans to stay viable, applied to their own setting or an enterprise activity. It is one 10 hour unit that learners combine with others into a Pearson Skills for Life or Skills for Work Award, Certificate or Diploma, assessed internally by the centre. Numeracy sits in income and expenditure, budgeting, comparing sources of finance and cost savings, and a simple financial plan at Level 2. Literacy sits in describing and explaining finance choices and their impact, and in group discussion.
- Awarding body
- Pearson
- Level
- Entry Level 1 to Level 2
- Guided learning hours
- 10
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of literacy work
- Medium
- Amount of numeracy work
- Medium
- Specification
- Open the specification
How this unit is assessed
- Entry Level (Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3): One assessment criterion at each of Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3, moving from stating how businesses or other institutions earn and manage money, to outlining basic business finance concepts, to identifying sources of income, cost-saving measures and how a budget helps a business stay viable. Evidence is internally assessed by the centre, which sets and marks the assessment, and quality assured by Pearson through standards verification. 10 guided learning hours. Graded Pass or Fail.
- Level 1 and Level 2: One assessment criterion at each of Level 1 and Level 2: describing how a small business or other institution manages money and the benefits and drawbacks of financial planning and budgets, then creating a simple financial plan showing how to generate income and spend effectively so the business is viable. Evidence is internally assessed by the centre, which sets and marks the assessment, and quality assured by Pearson through standards verification. 10 guided learning hours. Graded Pass or Fail.
Skills that use Conceptual understanding
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Suggesting cost-saving measures
Entry 2 learners give examples of cost-saving measures such as turning off lights, Entry 3 learners suggest at least two for a given scenario with reasons, Level 1 learners consider cost-saving strategies, and Level 2 learners explain their potential impact on the business. This is required by the assessment criteria.
Numeracy: Financial literacy, Conceptual understanding
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils compare the price of the same pack of paper cups from two shops and work out how much the cheaper one saves.
- Year 8
- Pupils find three cost savings for a school tuck shop, such as buying in bulk, and work out how much each one saves per month.
- Year 9
- Pupils work out the saving from a bulk buy discount and a cheaper supplier for a small business and decide whether the saving is worth any drop in quality.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfW 8, assessment criteria Entry 3 to Level 2, page 44; Essential information for assessment decisions, Entry 2 to Level 2, pages 45 to 46
“give examples of cost-saving measures, e.g. turning off lights.”
Progression step 3
I can make comparisons between prices and understand which is best value for money.
I can manage money, compare costs from different retailers and determine what can be bought within a given budget.
Progression step 4
I can make informed decisions relating to discounts and special offers.
I can interpret answers within the context of the problem and consider whether answers, including calculator, analogue and digital displays, are sensible.
Good to know
- The unit is Unit SfW 8 and is worth "10" guided learning hours (Unit summary, page 5), half the 20 hours of the WJEC unit of the same name.
- Pearson maps the unit to the Mathematics and Numeracy statement "The number system is used to represent and compare relationships between numbers and quantities" (Statements of 'what matters' mapping, page 47).
- Pearson's own numeracy links for the unit are "budget, calculate, cost, income, expenses, profit, financial" (Annexe C, page 119), although the criteria themselves do not name profit, cash flow or break-even.
- Entry 2 learners can apply the ideas "to a familiar scenario such as personal spending" (Essential information for assessment decisions, page 45), so the context need not be a real business at the lower levels.
- Evidence is flexible: "there are no mandatory evidence requirements and centres can select the type of evidence" (Essential information for assessment decisions, page 45).
- AI tools must be acknowledged: "If AI is used, the final submission must be in the learner's own words and reflect their own effort" (Requirements relating to permitted/prohibited resources, page 47).
Links with other qualifications
The WJEC Skills for Work unit Business Finance is 20 hours, requires an enterprise activity and adds profit and loss, cash flow forecasts and break-even, so it carries more numeracy than the 10 hour Pearson unit, which centres on income, costs, cost saving, budgets and a simple financial plan. Budgeting and comparing sources of finance link to WJEC GCSE Business and to the financial content of GCSE Mathematics and Numeracy, the budgeting work to the Skills for Life unit Financial literacy, and planning finance for an enterprise to the WJEC Skills for Work unit Enterprise venture. Explaining finance choices in writing builds on WJEC GCSE English Language and Literature.
Source: Pearson Entry Level 1 to Level 2 Skills for Work Award, Certificate and Diploma Qualifications specification, Issue 1, August 2026, Unit SfW 8: Business finance.