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THE BAHAMAS INSTITUTE OF FINANCIAL SERVICES
"Keeping Financial Services Education Relevant to Industry Needs"
BUSINESS CALCULATIONS - BIFS 111
Course Description:
This course is designed to strengthen students' numerical and analytical skills with practical applications in accounting, finance, and business. Students will gain confidence in solving mathematical problems, analyzing data, and understanding financial documents. The course includes foundational concepts in arithmetic, algebra, accounting principles, payroll, interest calculations, investments, and statistics—all tailored to real-world scenarios in the financial services industry.
Course Objectives:
To develop accuracy and confidence in performing essential business calculations.
To enhance students’ ability to interpret and apply mathematical concepts in accounting and finance.
To introduce foundational accounting processes including double-entry bookkeeping and balance sheet preparation.
To provide hands-on practice with payroll, interest, investments, and statistical tools relevant to the financial sector.
To prepare students for further studies or entry-level roles in business and financial services.
Course Learning Outcomes:
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
Perform and interpret business arithmetic operations including decimals, fractions, percentages, and equations.
Prepare and analyze basic financial statements such as income statements and balance sheets.
Understand and apply accounting principles such as double-entry bookkeeping.
Calculate and interpret interest, annuities, markups/markdowns, payroll, and investment returns.
Analyze basic business statistics including mean, median, mode, and weighted average.
Demonstrate knowledge of financial tools such as promissory notes, mutual funds, and bond investments.
Perform bank reconciliations and understand credit and payroll systems.
Recommended Course Materials:
Basic calculator (non-programmable)
Notebook and pen/pencil for notes and practice
Handouts or textbook on Business Mathematics and Accounting Principles (to be provided)
Access to Microsoft Excel or other spreadsheet software (recommended)
Course Content:
1. Review of Basic Computational Skills
Whole numbers: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division
Rounding numbers
Solving word problems
2. Fractions and Decimals
Types and conversion of fractions
Operations with fractions and decimals
Converting between decimals and percentages
3. Percentages