ICAN · Foundation
BE A1 Business Environment
How businesses work and the world they work in: business processes, the accountant's role in business and society, management and organisational behaviour, economics, and technology and data.
BE
- Format
- Written examination
- Duration
- 3h 15m
- Pass mark
- 50%
- Total marks
- 100
- Sessions
- May and November diets
- Syllabus
- 2025 syllabus (updated)
Exam structure
- Section A20
Twenty compulsory multiple-choice questions spanning the whole syllabus (20% of total marks).
- Section B80
Six open-ended questions (essay, computational or scenario-based) worth 20 marks each; candidates answer any four.
Replaces Business, Management and Finance; BMF passes are credited as BE. The finance content moved to the new B5 Financial Management. ICAN's syllabus allows Foundation papers to be paper-based or computer-based.
Syllabus navigator
Every area, with where HPS teaches it.
Use the arrow keys or select an area. Areas and sub-areas follow the ICAN 2025 syllabus. Weightings appear only where the examining body publishes them.
Syllabus area A· about 25% of the exam
Business Processes and Environment
3 sub-areas, as the syllabus lists them. HPS lessons and questions are tagged to these codes, so your Knowledge DNA and revision plan point at the exact sub-area you got wrong.
- A1Nature of business, types and objectives
- A2Business and organisational structures and choices
- A3The business environment
Courses
BE tuition is scheduled on request.
Tell HPS you are interested and the programme office will let you know when the next course is confirmed.
Practise free
Questions without an account.
- Free BE practice is being prepared
Next sessions
- November 2026 diet10 Nov 2026 to 12 Nov 2026
Resources
Free reading for this paper.
- Resources for this paper are being prepared. The library grows every week.