Lesson Plan

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Lesson Plan
Grade: Date: 25/02/2026
Subject: Business
Lesson Topic: the uses of budgets for measuring performance, allocating resources, controlling and monitoring a business
Learning Objective/s:
  • Describe the purpose of budgets in business contexts.
  • Explain how budgets are used to measure performance and identify variances.
  • Analyse how budgets allocate resources and support operational control.
  • Apply the budgeting cycle to evaluate and monitor business progress.
  • Calculate and interpret basic budgetary ratios (variance ratio, cost‑to‑revenue, operating margin).
Materials Needed:
  • Projector or interactive whiteboard
  • PowerPoint slides summarising key concepts
  • Handout with budget cycle diagram and sample variance calculations
  • Calculator or spreadsheet software for ratio exercises
  • Whiteboard and markers
  • Sticky notes for group activity
 Introduction:
Begin with a quick poll: “When you plan a personal trip, what costs do you consider?” Connect this to business budgeting, remind students of prior work on financial statements, and state that by the end they will be able to use budgets to measure performance, allocate resources, and monitor progress.
Lesson Structure:
  1. Do‑now (5’) – students complete a short budgeting scenario on sticky notes.
  2. Mini‑lecture (10’) – present the four uses of budgets and the budgeting cycle.
  3. Interactive demonstration (10’) – walk through variance calculation and budgetary ratios using a spreadsheet.
  4. Group activity (15’) – teams map the 7‑step budgeting process onto a flow diagram and discuss how each step supports the four uses.
  5. Guided practice (10’) – calculate variances from a sample operating budget and interpret the results.
  6. Check for understanding (5’) – quick quiz (Kahoot or show of hands).
  7. Recap & exit ticket (5’) – students write one way they will apply budgeting in a future business case.
Conclusion:
Summarise how budgets serve as a decision‑making tool for performance measurement, resource allocation, control and monitoring. Ask students to submit an exit ticket stating the most surprising insight they gained. For homework, assign a brief case study where they prepare a simple cash‑flow budget and identify potential variances.