The CXC Business Education syllabuses have a twin role.  On the one hand they are intended to make a social contribution: they are designed to ensure that candidates, immediately on completion of the course, can take their place in the economic system as productive members of society.  This involves in each subject area the development of skills, knowledge and attitudes which will make initial employment mutually beneficial to candidate and employer.  On the other hand the syllabuses are intended to contribute to the personal development of the candidate: they are designed to provide a basis for further studies in specialised areas of interest, to allow for occupational mobility and to increase competence and confidence in coping with aspects of the world outside school.  This involves a requirement that the objective of a balanced education should be met.

Business Education courses have conventionally been accorded a purely vocational importance.  However, a carefully structured Business Education programme does not stand in any opposition to a carefully structure academic programme, but is rather an alternative route to the same goal.  It should be noted that individual Business Education courses so not amount to a Business Education.  Business Education inheres in a suitable combination of individual subjects, of which the majority are drawn from the Business Education area.

The primary aims of the syllabus in Principles of Business are to:

• Help candidates gain insight in, and develop an understanding of business practices;
• Help candidates develop an understanding of the role of business practices in the socio-economic systems of the Caribbean;
• Expose candidates to a perspective which is intended to help them appreciate how their own subsequent career roles or functions will contribute to the economic structure of their territory;
• Enable candidates to make sound decisions as consumers of goods and services through the insight gained into business practice;
• Provide the candidates with the necessary background for study in specialised areas of business.

The syllabus is divided into three sections and 13 units:

• Section A: Organisational Principles
  • The Nature of Business and the Business Environment
  • Internal Organisational Structure of Business
  • Management and Industrial Relations
  • Legal Aspects of Business Contracts
• Section B: Production and Marketing
  • Factors of Production
  • Organisation of the Factors of Production
  • Marketing
• Section C: Finance and Introduction to Economics
  • Business Documents
• Money, Capital and the Financial Sector
• The Role of Government
• Elements of Economics
• Social Accounting and International Trade
• Regional and International Business Environment