English novelist and art historian Anita Brookner said of Commerce – “The lessons taught in great books are misleading. The commerce in real life is rarely so simple and never so just.”
The Commerce stream after completion of Class 10 is quite a popular one in India, as most students feel that the stream offers them a wide arena of career options to pursue after class 12, that would bring them both success as well as financial security easily.
However, what most students do not realize is that the commerce stream may provide them with the idea of a secure future, but just like the Science stream, a student also needs to have a certain aptitude in this field of study to be completely successful in it.
Some students may choose the Commerce stream for this reason. However, it is a fact that if they have a mind that is more suited to a career in the Humanities stream, or even the Science stream, they would find it hard to survive and perform well in Commerce.
To help students gauge whether they are meant to pursue a career in the field of Commerce, this section provides them with a basic knowledge of what this stream is all about.
Commerce as a stream of education can be defined as a study of trade and business activities such as the exchange of goods and services from producer to final consumer. The main subjects that are taught in the Commerce stream in Class 11 and 12 include Economics, Accountancy and Business Studies.
ECONOMICSSome of the reasons for studying Economics are given below:
- Economics is a social science that deals with the study of the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
- Economics has two broad branches – micro-economics, where the unit of analysis is the individual agent, such as a household or firm, and macro-economics, where the unit of analysis is an economy as a whole.
- Studying economics enables us to learn more about how the world works as it helps in gaining knowledge about the impact that decisions have on firms, industries and nations, the impact of international trade, both good and bad, the effects government policies have on the economy and on employment.
- Economic reasoning and theories have been increasingly applied in the recent era to not only the study of economies but also social situations where there is no monetary consideration, such as politics, law, psychology, history, religion, marriage and family life, and other social interactions.
BUSINESS STUDIESBusiness Studies is an important subject for commerce students. Here are some of the reasons why one should study Business Studies:
- Business Studies is a subject that deals with the operation and organization of modern business enterprises. The subject covers each feature of a business firm, such as how a firm will be affected in different business situations.
- The main areas of study in the subject include business organizations, their various features, structure and functioning, marketing, operations management, human resource management, etc.
- Studying Business allows a student to observe and analyze the behavior and tactics of different firms.
- The subject of Business Studies involves more than just mastering the art of doing business. The subject brings students abreast with the corporate culture and prepares them for their professional life.
- Business activities are something that affect the daily lives of all people in a society. It also influences creation of employment, incomes, opportunities for personal enterprise, standards of living of all individuals. Studying business allows a student to understand how business activities influence the society and the economy directly and indirectly.
ACCOUNTANCYAccountancy is an integral part of Commerce Stream. It's scope and reasons for studying accountancy are elaborated below:
- Accountancy is a branch of mathematical science that is concerned with the financial information about a business entity to users such as shareholders and managers.
- The financial communication that is studied under the subject is generally in the form of financial statements that show in the terms of money the economic resources under the control of the management.
- Studying accountancy enables a student to learn and discover the various causes of successes and failures of different business enterprises.
- The principles of accountancy are applied to business enterprises in three divisions of practical art, named accounting, bookkeeping and auditing.
- A student studying accountancy will learn the art of recording, classifying and summarizing in a significant manner and in terms of money, transactions and events which are financial in character to any extent and the interpretation of the results of these transactions and events.
Students who wish to take up the commerce stream should keep in mind that this subject is not an easy alternative as compared to science. Both science and commerce are complex study areas in their own ways and cannot be compared. Hence, if a student wishes to pursue the Commerce stream only because they feel that science is not a suitable stream for them, they need to rethink their choice. The Commerce stream should be pursued by students who have an aptitude as well as an avid interest in it.
“Commerce changes the fate and genius of nations.”
- Thomas Gray
