BTEC Business: Investment Appraisal and Project Planning

This material trains the financial and planning tools in Unit 7, Business Decision Making, of the Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Business qualifications. Unit 7 is a mandatory unit of the Extended Diploma only, where it is externally assessed; according to the specification, candidates complete a set task on a case study or business scenario released at the start of a supervised session, and they must use data to recommend and justify business solutions.

The core is content area B5: net present value, discounted cash flow and internal rates of return. You work out discount factors from the formula, turn future cash inflows into present values, calculate a project's NPV at two different rates, estimate its IRR by interpolation and decide what the results mean when they are compared with the cost of finance. A 'what if' question then shows how a single change in one year's cash flow can turn a positive NPV negative, which links to content area G2 on threats and 'what if' scenarios and G3 on contingency plans.

Project management from B5 comes next: finding the critical path through a network of activities, the minimum duration of a project and the float on a non-critical activity, and knowing when a Gantt chart is the better tool. Finally, B4 and F1 are represented by a trend forecast extrapolated from past sales, and by the question of how far such a forecast can be trusted.

The quiz has twelve questions, eleven of them worked from figures, each with a full explanation of the method and the usual mistakes, such as dividing by a discount factor instead of multiplying, or adding every activity to find a project's length. The flashcards hold the formulas and decision rules. The written work has eight longer tasks marked against key points: a four-year NPV, choosing between two projects, IRR by interpolation, a critical path with float, comparing Gantt charts and network analysis, 'what if' scenarios and contingency planning for a new café, building a 12-month sales forecast, and evaluating NPV as a decision tool. As a calculation topic, this material has no oral exam.

The businesses and figures are invented, discount factors are given to three decimal places, and all questions are original practice material rather than Pearson set tasks.

• Explain the time value of money and calculate discount factors and present values
• Calculate net present value and interpret it against a required rate of return
• Estimate the internal rate of return by interpolation and compare it with the cost of finance
• Use 'what if' analysis to test an investment decision and outline a contingency plan
• Find the critical path, minimum duration and float in a project network and compare it with a Gantt chart
• Forecast sales by extrapolating a trend and judge the reliability of the forecast

Practice material written by Zestly, based on Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Business (2016 suite), Unit 7 Business Decision Making, B4 (graphs, trend lines and extrapolation), B5 (project management: critical path analysis and Gantt charts; financial tools: net present value, discounted cash flow, internal rates of return), F1 sales forecasts and G2-G3 'what if' scenarios and contingency plans (specification Issue 15, April 2023).