Official syllabus
ISC Class XII Commerce Syllabus 2026 – 27
Explore the official topics, exam pattern and source PDF in one place.
Overview
Purpose: Commerce develops interest in the theory and practice of business, trade and industry, familiarises students with the organisation and operation of business firms, and explains how commerce supports the marketing of goods and services.
Class XII focus: The course concentrates on the business environment, financing, management and marketing. Students examine how organisations obtain and use finance, plan and direct operations, respond to external forces and design marketing decisions, while relating theory to actual business practice through project work.
Full syllabus
Business Environment unit
1. Business Environment
Concept, and importance of Business Environment.
Meaning, features and importance of Business Environment; Environmental scanning- Meaning.
Dimensions of Business Environment – Micro (Internal and External factors) and Macro (Economic, social, technological, political and legal) – meaning and components.
S.W.O.T. Analysis - A basic understanding of S.W.O.T. (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat) Analysis.
Financing unit
2. Financing
(i) Capital: Sources of finance for sole trader; partnership; Joint Stock Company; financial planning.
Importance of finance for business. Sources of finance for different types of business firms. Meaning, features and importance of financial planning. Factors affecting capital structure. Fixed capital - meaning, factors affecting fixed capital. Working capital – meaning, types; factors affecting working capital. Comparison between fixed and working capital.
(ii) Sources of finance for a Joint Stock Company.
(a) Different types of shares: equity, preference. Bonus shares, rights issue, ESOP, Sweat Equity Shares, Retained earnings.
Long-term sources of funds. Equity shares - features, advantages and disadvantages. Preference shares - features, types advantages and disadvantages; distinction between equity shares and preference shares. Bonus and rights issue, ESOP and Sweat Equity Shares, Qualified Institutional Placement - meaning. Distinction between bonus shares and right shares. Retained earnings – meaning, merits and demerits.
(b) Loan capital: debentures.
Debentures – meaning; kinds of debentures; advantages and disadvantages of debentures. Distinction between shares and debentures.
(c) Loans from commercial banks and Financial Institutions.
Loans from commercial banks and Financial Institutions - meaning, advantages and disadvantages.
(d) Short-term sources of funds.
Short-term sources of funds – different types of short-term financial assistance by Commercial Banks; public deposits, trade credit, customer advances, factoring, Inter corporate deposits, and installment credit. Meaning, advantages and disadvantages of various sources of funds.
(iii) Banking - latest trends.
Online services- transfer of funds through Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT), Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), issue of demand drafts online meaning and features.
Online payments, e-Banking – meaning and features, advantages and disadvantages.
Mobile Banking - SMS alerts, transfer of funds, making payments - advantages and disadvantages.
Debit Cards vs Credit Cards, ATM (Automated Teller Machine) – Meaning; Debit card and credit card: features and differences.
Digital Banking, UPI, E-wallet- Meaning only.
Management unit
3. Management
(i) Management: Meaning, objectives and characteristics of management.
Meaning of Management: as an activity; as a group; as a discipline; as a process. Objectives and characteristics of management.
(ii) Nature of Management – Science, Art and Profession.
Self explanatory.
(iii) Importance of Management. Levels of management- Meaning and functions.
Self explanatory.
(iv) Principles of Management: nature of principles; need for principles.
Nature of principles of Management; need for principles of management; Taylor’s 5 scientific principles of Management; Fayol’s 14 principles of Management; Relevance of the principles of Management in today’s business scenario. Comparison of Taylor's and Fayol’s principles.
(v) Functions of Management: Planning; Organising; Staffing; Directing; Controlling and Coordinating.
(a) Planning:
Meaning, steps, importance & limitation; Types of plans; Objectives, policy, procedures, method, rule, budget, program, strategy – meaning and features.
(b) Organising:
Meaning, importance, steps; Structure of organization (functional and divisional; Formal and informal organization) – Meaning, features, merits, demerits and differences between functional and divisional, formal and informal; Meaning and importance of delegation of authority; Decentralization v/s Centralization, comparison between delegation and decentralization, merits and demerits.
(c) Staffing:
Meaning, steps and importance; Recruitment – Meaning and sources; Selection – Meaning and procedure; Training and development – Meaning, types of training, methods-off the job training and on the job training, difference between selection and recruitment, Training and Development-Meaning and differences between training and development.
(d) Directing:
Meaning and importance; Supervision- Meaning, functions and span of control; Motivation - Meaning and Maslow’s theory; Leadership- Meaning and styles of leadership- Democratic, Autocratic Laissez-faire, Bureaucratic-meaning only.
Communication - Meaning, objectives and process. Barriers to communication and overcoming barriers to communication.
(e) Controlling:
Meaning, steps and importance; Relationship between Planning and Controlling; Management by Exception.
(f) Coordination:
Meaning of Coordination; Coordination as an essence of Management.
Marketing unit
4. Marketing
(i) Marketing: concept and functions.
Meaning and types of markets; meaning and features of marketing. Marketing concepts: traditional v/s modern - meaning and features of traditional and modern concepts of marketing. Comparison between marketing and selling. Objectives and importance of marketing; functions of marketing – meaning, features of each function of marketing.
(ii) Marketing Mix - Meaning and Elements.
Product Mix - goods and services - meaning, features and types of goods; meaning, features of services; difference between product and services. Branding: meaning and merits. Labeling: meaning and merits. Packaging: meaning and features of good packaging.
Price Mix – meaning, factors determining price. Pricing strategies-cost plus pricing, competitive pricing, price-skimming, penetration pricing, value based pricing- (meaning only).
Place Mix – meaning, channel of distribution choice of channels of distribution and physical distribution. Elements of physical distribution -meaning only.
Promotion Mix – Meaning and elements. Elements – Advertising, sales promotion, personal selling and publicity – meaning, features, objectives and differences.
(iii) Consumer protection: rights of consumers, methods of consumer protection.
Need for consumer protection; methods of consumer protection - self-help, legislative measures and consumer associations/NGOs, Consumer Protection Act, 2019 – Meaning of consumer, rights of consumers and responsibilities of consumers.
The revised pecuniary jurisdiction according to Consumer Protection Rule 21 to be taken with reference to the Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions (National, State and District). The Consumer Protection Act 2023 to be taken into consideration only with reference to misleading advertisements.
Difference between Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
Marks & examination pattern
| Assessment | Marks | Weightage |
|---|---|---|
| Paper I: Theory | 80.00 | |
| Paper II: Project Work | 20.00 |
Paper I: Theory
- Duration
- 3 hours
PAPER I- THEORY: 80 MARKS
Paper II: Project Work
Paper II- Project Work ……20 marks
Practical & Projects
Project Work
PAPER II–PROJECT WORK–20 MARKS
Candidates will be expected to have completed two projects from any topic covered in Theory. The project should preferably be hand written and a hard copy should be submitted by the candidates.
The project work will be assessed by the teacher and a Visiting Examiner appointed locally and approved by CISCE.
Mark allocation for each Project [10 marks]:
Overall format 1 mark
Content 4 marks
Findings 2 marks
Viva-voce based on the Project 3 marks
A list of suggested Projects is given below:
- Compare marketing strategies adopted by two different companies of the same industry (FMCG / Telecommunication / media / education industry etc.) keeping in mind the following:
- Product mix
- Price Mix
- Place Mix
- Promotion Mix
- Collect newspaper/magazine clippings of five cases filed by consumers in the Consumer Court.
Find out the rights violated, and the redressal mechanism used.
What was the outcome of each case? - Visit a commercial Bank. Find out the procedure to open a savings account.
Find out the details of various Agency & General utility services provided by the bank. - Compare the interest rates offered by five different commercial banks on fixed deposits under various categories (general and senior citizens) and various time durations.
Find out the procedure and formalities for opening a fixed deposit account.
What is the procedure for closing the account on maturity and before maturity period? - Select five different companies across varying industries such as I.T., textiles, FMCG, Health Care, etc., included in the SENSEX. Keeping a hypothetical base money of Rupees One Lakh, invest in the shares of the selected companies. The movement of share prices selected by you should be monitored over a period of one month on a daily basis. A uniform / standard practice of either using the opening price or the closing price on a particular day of the week should be used by all students in the class. At the end of the month, analyse your investment in a spread sheet and give reasons for your choice of scripts.
- Find out the names of companies under various sectors (FMCG, Pharma, automobile, etc) included in the NIFTY and the SENSEX. Make a chart of the same and track its movements over a period of one week.
- (a) Study the sources of recruitment and steps involved in the selection procedure adopted by two companies of the same industry.
(b) Compare and evaluate the sources of recruitment and the selection process adopted by the selected companies. - Formulate a capital plan for a hypothetical business organization. Justify your formulated plan.
- Choose two companies of the same industry. Study their organizational structure. Also give information with regard to:
- Hierarchy
- Centralization and delegation of authority
- Flow of information (scalar chain)
- Span of control
- Channel of communication.
- Select any business undertaking. Study the selected business in terms of ownership, capital and profitability. Make a S.W.O.T. analysis and present it in a tabular form.
NOTE: No question paper for Project Work will be set by CISCE.
Prescribed Books
Refer to the official source; no separate requirements have been recorded.