Core Standard

C6 Apply current business knowledge

To be a good business support professional you need a broad, current understanding of the essential areas of business and how they link to and support each other. You also need practical knowledge of the competing demands, pressures and motivations facing the people who run businesses. This Standard sets the level of knowledge expected of every practitioner. The Specialist Standards set out greater depth in particular areas.

How to read a Standard

What you need to show

C6.1
Apply your knowledge of business, its core functions and how they link to and affect each other when working with clients
C6.2
Apply your understanding of the pressures, motivations and emotional investment involved in running a business
C6.3
Recognise when a problem presented in one area of the business is caused by another (for example a cash flow problem caused by poor marketing)
C6.4
Keep your knowledge of business up to date, including changes in regulation, technology and the economy
C6.5
Recognise when a client needs specialist or regulated advice and refer them to a suitably qualified professional

What you need to know and understand

Strategy and growth

C6.K1
How to assess where a business stands, what its owners want for it and what it will take to succeed
C6.K2
How businesses plan, from simple action plans to full business plans

Finance

C6.K3
Financial statements, cash flow, forecasting, costing, pricing and margins
C6.K4
Sources of finance and what is needed to secure them, and the boundary between general guidance and regulated financial advice
C6.K5
Basic business taxation and record-keeping, including digital record-keeping and reporting requirements

Customers and markets

C6.K6
Market research, understanding customer needs, marketing and sales techniques (including digital channels), customer service, and selling to customers overseas
C6.K16
How small businesses develop new products, services and markets

People

C6.K7
Recruitment, management, performance, pay and reward, the essentials of employment law, and the link between skills and business performance
C6.K17
The business benefits of equality, diversity and inclusion

Operations and technology

C6.K8
Business processes, quality, resource and supply chain management, and how digital technology and AI can improve them
C6.K9
The basics of cyber security and the data protection obligations of businesses

Sustainability

C6.K10
How climate, energy and environmental requirements affect businesses, and the business benefits of better environmental performance

Laws and regulations

C6.K11
Legal forms and governance structures, and the legal requirements for businesses (for example licences, health and safety, consumer protection, contracts, intellectual property and thresholds such as VAT registration)
C6.K12
How to keep track of regulatory change, where authoritative information is available, and when to refer to a professional adviser

Business models and sectors

C6.K13
The needs of different types of business, including the self-employed, home-based, micro, small, medium-sized and family businesses, social enterprises and co-operatives, and structured formats such as franchising, licensing, direct selling and distribution agreements

The business lifecycle

C6.K14
What businesses typically need at each stage, from pre-start and start-up through growth and maturity to difficulty, succession and exit

Business experience

C6.K15
What running a business asks of the people who do it: the personal stake they have in it, the range of abilities it calls on, the risks they carry, and the time and energy it takes

Evolved from

Business Support 9 (Apply your knowledge and experience of business and its core functions); Business Information 8; Introduction to Enterprise Support 5; awareness-level content from Business Support 12 and 16; Business and Enterprise Support (2013) unit 7.