Skills for Work: Business Finance
Business finance is a Skills for Work unit on how businesses raise, spend, invest and save money, applied in a real enterprise activity such as a tuck shop, cake sale or fundraising stall. It is one 20 hour unit that learners combine with others into a Skills for Work, or Skills for Life and Work, Award, Certificate or Diploma, from Entry 1 to Level 2. The assessment criteria ask for budgets and records of income and costs but do not insist on a computer. Digital work sits in the overview and guidance: spreadsheets or finance apps for budgets, cash flow and break-even, charts, online price research and presentations.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- Level
- Entry Level 1 to Level 2
- Guided learning hours
- 20
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of digital work
- Medium
How this unit is assessed
- Entry Level (Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3): Four learning outcomes with assessment criteria at Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3 (unit codes S653E1, S653E2, S653E3). Evidence goes in a portfolio, internally assessed by the centre and externally quality assured by WJEC. 20 guided learning hours. Learners must take part in an enterprise activity.
- Level 1 and Level 2: Four learning outcomes with assessment criteria at Level 1 and Level 2 (unit codes S653L1, S653L2). Evidence goes in a portfolio, internally assessed by the centre and externally quality assured by WJEC. 20 guided learning hours. Learners must take part in an enterprise activity.
Skills that use Creating digital content
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Presenting financial plans digitally
Learners can evidence their planning through slideshows, presentations or videos, and a suggested Level 1 and Level 2 activity is presenting a budget plan or pitching a finance decision to investors. These are routes to evidence, not requirements of the criteria.
DCF: Creating digital content, Evaluating and improving digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils make a three slide presentation about their class stall showing what they sold, what it cost and how much they raised.
- Year 8
- Pupils insert a spreadsheet chart into slides that present their stall budget and choose a layout that makes the numbers easy to read.
- Year 9
- Pupils record a two minute video pitch of a finance decision, such as buying or renting equipment, with on-screen figures, and explain their design choices.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Sources of evidence, page 13; Suggested activities for Level 1 and 2 learners, page 12
“slideshows, presentations or videos summarising enterprise activities or financial planning”
Progression step 3
I can use a range of software to select, produce and edit a range of multimedia components for a purpose, such as:
- text and images, e.g. format text (bold, underline, italics, highlight); insert and edit text boxes; columns; use refine tools (spellchecker, find and replace); word wrap; crop; alter size and shape; alter images; add effects; trim and split sound and video clips; transitions; onion skin
- presentation, e.g. page orientation; animations; transitions; remove and alter images; use background; use action buttons to create hyperlink; embed objects.
I can ensure my output is appropriate for specific purposes.
Progression step 4
I can select and use a variety of appropriate software, tools and techniques to create, modify and combine multimedia components for a range of audiences and purposes, such as:
- text and images, e.g. explore and use effectively image manipulation techniques; explore and use appropriately the many aspects of document layout; use animation, video and audio effects such as echo, tempo, envelope, layering, frame rate, key frames
- presentation, e.g. use design tools; adapt themes and colours to suit the purpose; create master templates.
I can justify the reasons for choices and explain the advantages and disadvantages of the different digital outputs I create.
Good to know
- Unit codes are S653E1, S653E2, S653E3, S653L1 and S653L2, and the unit is 20 GLH in the Skills for Work suite (Unit overview, page 3).
- An enterprise activity is compulsory: "To achieve this unit, learners must take part in an enterprise activity." (Unit overview, page 3).
- No special kit is needed: "Assessment of this unit should not require any specific resources" (Resources required for assessment, page 15). Spreadsheets and apps help but are not required by any criterion.
- Evidence does not have to be written or on paper. The pack lists a "digital portfolio compiling evidence of planning, decisions, financial tracking and reflections" (page 13), and the specification says the portfolio "is not limited to paper-based materials" and accepts "photographic evidence" and "video/audio recordings" (Section 4.1, page 18).
- Extended written work is only needed where appropriate; evidence may be "verbal, written, practical or visual", and judgements should not focus on "spelling or presentation unless specifically assessed" (Sources of evidence, page 13).
- Suggested assessment tasks "are not mandatory"; teachers may use, adapt or replace them (Section 4.1, page 18).
- AI misuse is malpractice, including "Using AI to complete parts of the assessment so that the work does not reflect the learner's own work, analysis, evaluation or calculations." Use of AI tools must be acknowledged (Section 4.6, page 21).
- Learners can complete the unit at several levels, but "only the highest level of the unit achieved will count towards the GLH" (Section 2.2, page 10).
Links with other qualifications
The pack names Enterprise venture, Financial literacy, Teamwork and Using IT in the workplace as closely related Skills Suite units, with Ethical choices for responsible business decisions, and points to the VCSE and Foundation qualifications in Retail and Customer Service and to GCSE Business. GCSE Business shares sources of finance, costs, profit, cash flow and break-even. The spreadsheet modelling of budgets, cash flow and break-even links with GCSE Digital Technology, and the money calculations link with GCSE Mathematics and Numeracy.
Source: WJEC Business finance unit delivery and assessment pack, read with the WJEC Entry 1 to Level 2 Skills for Life and Skills for Work specification, approved by Qualifications Wales, teaching from September 2027 (© WJEC CBAC Ltd 2026).