Nebraska Career Information System

Business, Marketing and Management Career Field

Budgeting and Spending Learning Activity

Overview

Budgeting and Spending is a hands-on activity to help students learn about some of the work related to the Business, Marketing, and Management career field. One of the objectives of the activity is to provide the opportunity for students to do work tasks and then to reflect upon those tasks. The exploration activity is set up to be completed in one class period. The activity could used to introduce the career field.

Standards

School Counseling
K-12.3.1 Identify values, attitudes, and beliefs.
K-12.1.1 Develop an awareness of personal abilities, skills, interests, and motivations.
K-12.1.2 Identify personal skills, interests, and abilities and relate them to current career choices.
K-12.1.3 Identify personal preferences and interests which influence career choices and success.
K-12.1.3 Demonstrate how interests, abilities, and achievement relate to achieving career goals.

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Mathematics

8.2.3 Solve problems involving whole numbers and percents.

Business

8.1 Understand personal skills, abilities, aptitudes, and personal strengths and weaknesses as they relate to career exploration.
8.3 Understand basic mathematical and business computations.
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Materials and Supplies

Handout “Budgeting and Spending”
Calculators (optional)

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Instructions for Educators

1. Handout the “Budgeting and Spending” worksheet. Have the students/clients complete the accounting activity. Check their computations.
2. Discuss how interest, abilities, and skills are related to career options and choices.
3. Have the students/clients save the “Budgeting and Spending” activity in the career portfolios.
4. An optional activity is to have the students/clients, who are interested in this career field, explore occupations related to this activity or the Business, Marketing, and Administration field.
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Budgeting and Spending Instructions

Figure out the estimated expenses based on three income levels and fill in the table provided below. In the chart below, the first column lists types of monthly expenses most people have. The next column gives the average percent of each month's salary that is spent in that category. Three monthly incomes are shown that are based on different occupations in accounting.

Accounting clerk with a high school diploma or associate degree.
Accountant with bachelor’s degree and a few years of experience.
Head of an accounting department with several years experience and additional education and licensed as a Certified Public Accountant.

Determine the actual monthly expenses for columns 2 and 3 and answer the questions following the chart.

Monthly Expenses	Average Spending	Column 1 $1300/mo
1. Housing/utilities (phone, heat, electricity)	25%	$324
2. Food	8%	$105
3. Loan Payments (credit cards, student loans)	4%	$52
4. Entertainment/hobbies	6%	$78
5. Transportation (car, gas, etc)	8%	$105
6. Clothing/personal	6%	$78
7. Gifts (personal & to charity)	3%	$39
8. Health care	4%	$52
9. Taxes (federal, state local)	22%	$258
10. Savings	6%	$78
11. Insurance	4%	$52
12. Other	4%	$52
Total (must equal total income)	100%	$1300

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Thinking about Budgeting and Spending

Yes

1. This was a challenging activity.

_____

2. This was an enjoyable activity.

_____

3. This activity helped me understand what I am good at and not so good at.

_____

4. This activity helped me think about accounting.

_____

5. What did you specifically like or dislike about this activity?

6. Would you be interested in keeping track of income and expenses for a business? Figuring out employees pay and benefits? Helping people plan budgets and savings? Checking a business' accounts to see if they paid enough taxes?

_____

Explain why you are interested or not interested in these options.

Save these thoughts in your career portfolio. In the future, review your responses and consider if your interests and preferences have changed. . Do you still have the same attitude about the budgeting project? What has stayed the same or changed and why?

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