Level 1 Commerce

Year 11 Commerce (NCEA Level 1)

Understand how money, businesses, and the economy work — and how smart decisions can change everything.

In this course, you’ll learn how organisations make financial decisions, how they set prices, and how one event (like a natural disaster or government decision) can affect many different people and businesses.
It brings together Accounting, Business Studies, and Economics into one subject that’s practical and useful for real life.

1.1 – Financial Decision-Making

AS92028 | 5 Credits | Internal

This part of the course is about how businesses or organisations make important money decisions.

You’ll look at:

• What choices a business has when they face a problem or opportunity (e.g. whether to hire more staff, buy a new machine, or expand)

• How they compare the options using tools like a budget or a list of pros and cons

• Who might be affected by the decision (like staff, customers, or the wider community)

• Why the final choice is made and how the business can deal with the good and bad effects

You’ll learn how to think like a manager — weighing up costs, benefits, and people’s views before making a decision.

1.2 – Price Determination

AS92029 | 5 Credits | Internal

This part of the course is about how a business decides what price to charge for something.

You’ll learn:

• How a price is set based on costs, demand, and what customers are willing to pay

• What happens if things change — like if the business gets more competition or costs go up

• What the business could do: change the price, add more value, or keep the price the same

• What the impact would be for customers, workers, and the business itself

You’ll understand why some things are cheap and others expensive — and how pricing is a smart business decision, not just a guess.

1.3 – Financial Connections Between Businesses

AS92030 | 5 Credits | External

This part of the course is about how one event can affect many businesses and people — because we’re all financially connected.

You’ll learn:

• How businesses, households, and the government are all linked through spending, earning, and trading

• What happens to one business when something big changes — like a cyclone, inflation, or a big rise in fuel prices

• How that change flows on to others — like workers, suppliers, or customers

• What decisions a business could make to deal with the change — and what effect that would have on others

You’ll learn to see the bigger picture — how one decision or event can set off a chain reaction that affects a whole town, city, or country.

Where This Leads

Level 1 Commerce prepares you for Level 2 Accounting, Business, and Economics.
From there, you can work towards careers in:

• Running a business or side hustle

• Finance, marketing, and accounting

• Trades + business ownership

• Government, logistics, or international trade

• Or just being a smarter consumer, saver, and decision-maker

If you want to work for yourself or someone else, Commerce gives you the skills to make better financial decisions and understand how the world of business really works.