UNIVERSITY GRANTS COMMISSION

NET BUREAU

NET SYLLABUS

Subject: Commerce Code No. : 08

Unit 1: Business Environment and International Business

Unit 2: Accounting and Auditing
Unit 3: Business Economics
Unit 4: Business Finance
Unit 5: Business Statistics and Research Methods
Unit 6: Business Management and Human Resource Management
Unit 7: Banking and Financial Institutions
Unit 8: Marketing Management
Unit 9: Legal Aspects of Business
Unit 10: Income-tax and Corporate Tax Planning

Unit 1: Business Environment and International Business

 Concepts and elements of business environment: Economic environment- Economic

systems, Economic policies(Monetary and fiscal policies); Political environment-
Role of government in business; Legal environment- Consumer Protection Act,
FEMA; Socio-cultural factors and their influence on business; Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR)
 Scope and importance of international business; Globalization and its drivers; Modes
of entry into international business
 Theories of international trade; Government intervention in international trade; Tariff
and non-tariff barriers; India’s foreign trade policy

1
  Foreign direct investment (FDI) and Foreign portfolio investment (FPI); Types of
FDI, Costs and benefits of FDI to home and host countries; Trends in FDI; India’s
FDI policy
 Balance of payments (BOP): Importance and components of BOP
 Regional Economic Integration: Levels of Regional Economic Integration; Trade
creation and diversion effects; Regional Trade Agreements: European Union (EU),
ASEAN, SAARC, NAFTA
 International Economic institutions: IMF, World Bank, UNCTAD
 World Trade Organisation (WTO): Functions and objectives of WTO; Agriculture
Agreement; GATS; TRIPS; TRIMS

Unit 2: Accounting and Auditing

 Basic accounting principles; concepts and postulates

 Partnership Accounts: Admission, Retirement, Death, Dissolution and Insolvency of
partnership firms
 Corporate Accounting: Issue, forfeiture and reissue of shares; Liquidation of
companies; Acquisition, merger, amalgamation and reconstruction of companies
 Holding company accounts
 Cost and Management Accounting: Marginal costing and Break-even analysis;
Standard costing; Budgetary control; Process costing; Activity Based Costing (ABC);
Costing for decision-making; Life cycle costing, Target costing, Kaizen costing and
JIT
 Financial Statements Analysis: Ratio analysis; Funds flow Analysis; Cash flow
analysis
 Human Resources Accounting; Inflation Accounting; Environmental Accounting
 Indian Accounting Standards and IFRS
 Auditing: Independent financial audit; Vouching; Verification ad valuation of assets
and liabilities; Audit of financial statements and audit report; Cost audit
 Recent Trends in Auditing: Management audit; Energy audit; Environment audit;
Systems audit; Safety audit

Unit 3: Business Economics

 Meaning and scope of business economics

 Objectives of business firms
 Demand analysis: Law of demand; Elasticity of demand and its measurement;
Relationship between AR and MR
 Consumer behavior: Utility analysis; Indifference curve analysis
 Law of Variable Proportions: Law of Returns to Scale

2
  Theory of cost: Short-run and long-run cost curves
 Price determination under different market forms: Perfect competition; Monopolistic
competition; Oligopoly- Price leadership model; Monopoly; Price discrimination
 Pricing strategies: Price skimming; Price penetration; Peak load pricing

Unit 4: Business Finance

 Scope and sources of finance; Lease financing

 Cost of capital and time value of money
 Capital structure
 Capital budgeting decisions: Conventional and scientific techniques of capital
budgeting analysis
 Working capital management; Dividend decision: Theories and policies
 Risk and return analysis; Asset securitization
 International monetary system
 Foreign exchange market; Exchange rate risk and hedging techniques
 International financial markets and instruments: Euro currency; GDRs; ADRs
 International arbitrage; Multinational capital budgeting

Unit 5: Business Statistics and Research Methods

 Measures of central tendency

 Measures of dispersion
 Measures of skewness
 Correlation and regression of two variables
 Probability: Approaches to probability; Bayes’ theorem
 Probability distributions: Binomial, poisson and normal distributions
 Research: Concept and types; Research designs
 Data: Collection and classification of data
 Sampling and estimation: Concepts; Methods of sampling - probability and non-
probability methods; Sampling distribution; Central limit theorem; Standard error;
Statistical estimation
 Hypothesis testing: z-test; t-test; ANOVA; Chi–square test; Mann-Whitney test (U-
test); Kruskal-Wallis test (H-test); Rank correlation test
 Report writing

Unit 6: Business Management and Human Resource Management

 Principles and functions of management

3
  Organization structure: Formal and informal organizations; Span of control
 Responsibility and authority: Delegation of authority and decentralization
 Motivation and leadership: Concept and theories
 Corporate governance and business ethics
 Human resource management: Concept, role and functions of HRM; Human resource
planning; Recruitment and selection; Training and development; Succession planning
 Compensation management: Job evaluation; Incentives and fringe benefits
 Performance appraisal including 360 degree performance appraisal
 Collective bargaining and workers’ participation in management
 Personality: Perception; Attitudes; Emotions; Group dynamics; Power and politics;
Conflict and negotiation; Stress management
 Organizational Culture: Organizational development and organizational change

Unit 7: Banking and Financial Institutions

 Overview of Indian financial system

 Types of banks: Commercial banks; Regional Rural Banks (RRBs); Foreign banks;
Cooperative banks
 Reserve Bank of India: Functions; Role and monetary policy management
 Banking sector reforms in India: Basel norms; Risk management; NPA management
 Financial markets: Money market; Capital market; Government securities market
 Financial Institutions: Development Finance Institutions (DFIs); Non-Banking
Financial Companies (NBFCs); Mutual Funds; Pension Funds
 Financial Regulators in India
 Financial sector reforms including financial inclusion
 Digitisation of banking and other financial services: Internet banking; mobile
banking; Digital payments systems
 Insurance: Types of insurance- Life and Non-life insurance; Risk classification and
management; Factors limiting the insurability of risk; Re-insurance; Regulatory
framework of insurance- IRDA and its role

Unit 8: Marketing Management

 Marketing: Concept and approaches; Marketing channels; Marketing mix; Strategic

marketing planning; Market segmentation, targeting and positioning
 Product decisions: Concept; Product line; Product mix decisions; Product life cycle;
New product development
 Pricing decisions: Factors affecting price determination; Pricing policies and
strategies

4
  Promotion decisions: Role of promotion in marketing; Promotion methods -
Advertising; Personal selling; Publicity; Sales promotion tools and techniques;
Promotion mix
 Distribution decisions: Channels of distribution; Channel management
 Consumer Behaviour; Consumer buying process; factors influencing consumer
buying decisions
 Service marketing
 Trends in marketing: Social marketing; Online marketing; Green marketing; Direct
marketing; Rural marketing; CRM
 Logistics management

Unit 9: Legal Aspects of Business

 Indian Contract Act, 1872: Elements of a valid contract; Capacity of parties; Free
consent; Discharge of a contract; Breach of contract and remedies against breach;
Quasi contracts;
 Special contracts: Contracts of indemnity and guarantee; contracts of bailment and
pledge; Contracts of agency
 Sale of Goods Act, 1930: Sale and agreement to sell; Doctrine of Caveat Emptor;
Rights of unpaid seller and rights of buyer
 Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881: Types of negotiable instruments; Negotiation and
assignment; Dishonour and discharge of negotiable instruments
 The Companies Act, 2013: Nature and kinds of companies; Company formation;
Management, meetings and winding up of a joint stock company
 Limited Liability Partnership: Structure and procedure of formation of LLP in India
 The Competition Act, 2002: Objectives and main provisions
 The Information Technology Act, 2000: Objectives and main provisions; Cyber
crimes and penalties
 The RTI Act, 2005: Objectives and main provisions
 Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) : Patents, trademarks and copyrights; Emerging
issues in intellectual property
 Goods and Services Tax (GST): Objectives and main provisions; Benefits of GST;
Implementation mechanism; Working of dual GST

Unit 10: Income-tax and Corporate Tax Planning

 Income-tax: Basic concepts; Residential status and tax incidence; Exempted incomes;
Agricultural income; Computation of taxable income under various heads; Deductions
from Gross total income; Assessment of Individuals; Clubbing of incomes
 International Taxation: Double taxation and its avoidance mechanism; Transfer
pricing

5
 Corporate Tax Planning: Concepts and significance of corporate tax planning; Tax
avoidance versus tax evasion; Techniques of corporate tax planning; Tax
considerations in specific business situations: Make or buy decisions; Own or lease an
asset; Retain; Renewal or replacement of asset; Shut down or continue operations
 Deduction and collection of tax at source; Advance payment of tax; E-filing of
income-tax returns