CA ANZ made a submission to the NSW Education Standards Authority’s consultation on the draft Business Studies syllabus for Years 11–12. We express strong support for the syllabus direction while highlighting opportunities to strengthen the visibility, coherence, and practical application of accounting within the learning framework.

Recognising strengths in the draft syllabus

CA ANZ acknowledges several positive elements in the draft syllabus, including its clear subject specific content, embedded capabilities taught in context, applied learning approach and use of case studies and scenarios. It also provides good coverage of outcomes and essential content. Importantly, it identifies accounting as a fundamental area of business education.

Addressing challenges with syllabus size and clarity

While the draft syllabus is comprehensive, its breadth raises potential challenges for teachers and students. The volume of content may limit full coverage and application of core areas in the required timeframe. This is especially important to consider for content that is examinable.

Strengthening accounting content and its career relevance

Our submission emphasises the need for more explicit inclusion of accounting concepts across the syllabus and its implementation. The draft syllabus refers to several core accounting areas such as the income statement, balance sheet, and cash-flow statement. However, these concepts should be more strongly articulated and connected to career pathways.

CA ANZ recommends ensuring students can readily identify where accounting skills are being taught in the syllabus, and how this this can help them with real-world business decision making and unlock career opportunities.

We also encourage strengthening the connection between accounting learning and future career pathways by embedding this in teaching advice, case studies and scenarios. This would assist student engagement and understanding of how accounting skills are transferable across diverse roles, from tax, audit and business finance to emerging fields like cybersecurity, AI and sustainability.

Enhancing accounting, financial and evaluative skills

The submission recommends replacing references in the draft syllabus to the use of “mathematical tools” with “accounting and financial analysis tools”, to reflect the deeper evaluative skills required in business studies and align the terminology with the content that follows.

Embedding sustainability reporting concepts

CA ANZ also highlights the opportunity to strengthen students’ understanding of sustainability reporting, focusing on its role in ethical decision making, risk management and financial performance. We advocate integrating conceptual foundations of sustainability reporting into the content and outcomes for year 11 and 12, supported by real world examples and alignment with mandatory Australian standards.

CA ANZ’s broader commitment

The submission also outlines CA ANZ’s broader engagement with curriculum reform across Australia and our work supporting educators, students, and student guidance counsellors with education and learning resources. Our goal is to bring to life the real-world relevance of accounting theory and showcase how accounting skills are globally relevant, portable, and transferable.