Economics

Commerce Learning Area

Commerce combines aspects of economic activity, including accounting and business practices. 

HOD: Mr N Kumar

Commerce is a foundational course combining aspects of economic activity, including accounting and business practices. Economic activity shapes the daily lives of all New Zealanders. How we earn and spend has a significant effect on our quality of life, as well as the environment in which we live. Commerce looks at how financial decisions are made. This includes the influences on decision-making and the impacts that these decisions have.

All parts of society need to make choices about how to best meet their needs and wants with finite resources. For a household, this could include decisions about personal budgets. For a business, it could be about what they produce and how they produce it. For the government, it could be about what services they fund for the population.

People will approach these decisions with different goals and perspectives. This will influence what they prioritise. Pūtake plays a vital role in informing decision-making. Profit is not the main driver for many organisations. Their pūtake might be to create employment or be environmentally conscious in their production. Ākonga will explore how these differing perspectives shape commercial decision-making.

Economies are built on interdependent relationships, and all decisions will have an impact on other people or groups. Ākonga will build the skills to identify and evaluate the impacts. These impacts include the effects on the environment and its resources. Ākonga will explore the opportunities that innovation and enterprise provide for improving people’s standard of living as well as efficiency. Decisions made today affect our ability to produce and our quality of life in the future. Ākonga will be empowered to engage in the balancing act between growth and preservation.

• ask questions, gather information and background ideas, and examine relevant current issues
• explore and analyse people’s values and perspectives
• consider the ways in which people make decisions and participate in social action
• reflect on and evaluate the understandings you have developed and the responses that may be required.

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Courses in this Department

Office Manager, Accounts Officer, Banking, Insurance, Business Consultant, Mortgage Broker, Retail Buyer, Accountant, Auditor, Finance Manager, Financial Adviser, Currency Dealer, Economist, Statistician, Secondary School Teacher, Tertiary Lecturer, Property Manager, Real Estate, Valuer, Business Owner, Business Manager, Advisor, Consultant, Policy Analysis, Business Journalist,