Key term
CCEA AS-Level Business 3210
Enterprise and Entrepreneurship
The Central Purpose of Business Activity
Forms of Business Ownership
Stakeholder Groups
Markets and Market Forces
Quality Management
Topic overviewWhat is quality?Total quality management, quality assurance and quality control definedThe advantages and disadvantages of TQMThe advantages and disadvantages of quality assurance and quality controlISO 9000 certification and the quality policyQuality control and quality assurance reviewedTQM, control and assurance comparedThe approaches to quality, and the case for and against TQMQuality control and quality assurance weighedISO 9000 certification, and how quality is measuredQuality as a dimension of competitiveness
Productivity and Investment
Organisational Design
Topic overviewHierarchy, span of control, chain of command and delegationCentralised, decentralised, tall, flat and matrix structuresCentralisation versus decentralisation, delayering, and the effects of designCentralisation and decentralisation weighedTall and flat structures weighedOutsourcingCentralisation, structure and outsourcing
Investing in People
Topic overviewSuccession planning, skills audits and the factors behind people investmentThe benefits and drawbacks of investing in peopleMethods of recruitment and selectionTraining and appraisal methodsOnline recruitment and selectionOnline training and appraisalInduction training: content, benefits and drawbacksOn-the-job training: methods, advantages and drawbacksOff-the-job training: methods, advantages and drawbacksContinuing professional developmentChoosing a training methodInternal and external methods of recruitmentInternal versus external recruitment weighedThe stages of selection, and the methods usedPsychometric testing: what it measures and what it missesPsychometric testingThe purpose of appraisal, and its benefits and drawbacksTechnology in the appraisal processOnline recruitment and selection technologyOnline training and appraisal technologyThe benefits and drawbacks of online HR processes
Motivation
Topic overviewTaylor's scientific management and Maslow's hierarchyHerzberg's two-factor theory, and the limits of each theoryTaylor and Maslow reviewedHerzberg's hygiene factors and motivators in detailMonetary and non-monetary methods of motivationLeadership styles, and choosing a method of motivationThe monetary methods of paymentThe monetary methods weighed, and calculating commissionJob design, empowerment, team working and flexible workingRecognition and development, and how non-monetary methods link to theory
Principles of Management and Leadership
Market Size, Share and Growth
The Degree of Competition in a Market
Market Research
The Marketing Mix
Elasticity of Demand
The Product Life Cycle
Market Planning and Strategy
E-Business and E-Commerce
Sources of Finance
Break-Even Analysis
Cash Flow
Cash Flow Forecasts
Budgeting
Budgeting
- 4 subtopics
- 11 things to know
- Unit AS 2
What Budgeting covers
Budgeting is examined in Unit AS 2, Growing the Business. It covers what a budget does, and fixed versus flexible budgets, favourable and adverse variances calculated, investigating variances and management by exception and preparing and using a flexed budget.
Where it is assessed
Unit AS 2
Growing the Business, written examination, 20% of A level.
Check the CCEA specification ↗The 4 subtopics
Each one has its own page. CCEA AS Business students sit this topic in the first year.
- What a budget does, and fixed versus flexible budgetsHow budgeting enables financial control, fixed budget and flexible budget.Open →
- Favourable and adverse variances calculatedVariance in budgeting, favourable variance and adverse variance.Open →
- Investigating variances and management by exceptionWhy a favourable variance is investigated too, the usual causes of adverse material and labour variances, and how management by exception sets the threshold for looking.Open →
- Preparing and using a flexed budgetHow a budget is restated for the output actually achieved, why comparing 12,000 units against a 10,000-unit budget misleads, which costs move and which do not, and where the method is difficult.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Key term
What is a budget?
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What is a variance in budgeting?
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Give three possible causes of an adverse materials cost variance.
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Give three possible causes of an adverse labour cost variance.
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How is a flexible budget prepared?
Numbers
A flexed budget sets total costs at £112,000 and actual total costs were £118,000. Calculate the variance and state its type
Key term
What is a fixed budget?
Key term
A cost comes in below the budgeted figure. Is the variance favourable or adverse?
Key term
Give two possible causes of a favourable sales revenue variance.
Key term
In a flexed budget, which costs are recalculated and which are left unchanged?
Take Budgeting further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Fixed budget vs Flexible budget
Fixed budget: a plan that stays unchanged whatever level of activity is reached. Flexible budget: a plan whose figures are restated for the activity actually achieved.
Favourable variance vs Adverse variance
Favourable variance: the outcome is better for profit than the plan assumed. Adverse variance: the outcome is worse for profit than the plan assumed.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What is a budget?
Model answer
A financial plan that sets out expected income and expenditure over a future period, used to guide decision making and control spending.
- 2
How does budgeting aid decision making within a business?
Model answer
It provides targets against which actual performance can be measured, enabling managers to allocate resources effectively.
- 3
In what way does budgeting help coordinate activities across different departments?
Model answer
It ensures all parts of the business work towards common financial objectives.
- 4
How can budgeting motivate staff?
Model answer
By giving them clear financial targets to achieve and a sense of responsibility for meeting those targets.
- 5
Explain how budgeting enables financial control.
Model answer
It allows comparison of actual results against budgeted figures to identify variances that require corrective action.
- 6
What is a fixed budget?
Model answer
A budget that remains unchanged regardless of the actual level of activity or output achieved during the budget period.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Budgeting revision questions
- Is Budgeting examined at AS in CCEA Business?
- Yes. It sits in Unit AS 2, which you take in the first year, so it is on the AS paper as well as counting towards the full A level.
- What does Budgeting cover in CCEA AS-Level Business?
- 4 subtopics: what a budget does, and fixed versus flexible budgets, favourable and adverse variances calculated, investigating variances and management by exception and preparing and using a flexed budget. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Budgeting organised?
- By the CCEA 3210 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Budgeting, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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