About AP Business with Personal Finance
Four in five high school students want more career exploration, with business and personal finance ranking high in their areas of interest.1 2 AP Business with Personal Finance will teach workforce-ready skills that prepare students for careers in a range of businesses—from startups and large corporations to regional and local organizations.
About the Course
Launching in the 2026-27 school year, AP Business with Personal Finance is a yearlong high school business and personal finance course that aligns closely with a college-level introduction to business course. Students explore the business disciplines of entrepreneurship, marketing, finance, accounting, and management through real-world business applications, case studies, and project based learning. In addition, students learn and apply all the National Standards for Personal Financial Education created by the Council for Economic Education and the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy.
AP Business with Personal Finance is part of the AP Career Kickstart group of courses, which are designed to accelerate high school students on their paths to in-demand careers.
AP Business with Personal Finance Course Framework
The course framework is organized into five units that reflect key business disciplines:
- Unit 1: Businesses, Competition, and New Ideas
- Unit 2: Marketing
- Unit 3, Part 1: Personal Saving and Borrowing
- Unit 3, Part 2: Business Finance and Accounting
- Unit 4: Management and Strategy
- Unit 5: Personal Goals, Budgeting, and Investing
Course Skills
The AP Business with Personal Finance course framework includes two essential components—business skills and professional and leadership skills—that are critical to the deep understanding and application of business and personal finance content. Students should develop and use these skills throughout the course.
Business Skills
| Skill Category 1 | Skill Category 2 |
|---|---|
| Concept Application Explain business and personal finance concepts, principles, and strategies. | Entrepreneurship Identify a market opportunity, and develop and test a product idea designed to address the opportunity. |
| 1.A Describe business and personal finance concepts, principles, and strategies. | 2.A Identify a market opportunity (e.g., a customer problem, need or want) and develop a product idea to address it. |
| 1.B Interpret quantitative and qualitative business and personal finance data, performing calculations as appropriate. | 2.B Formulate and test business hypotheses to iterate on and improve on a product idea. |
| 1.C Using business and personal finance concepts and principles, explain how and why businesses and individuals pursue specific goals, strategies, and actions. | 2.C Explain the desirability, viability, and/or feasibility of a product idea. |
Professional and Leadership Skills
| Skill Category 3 | Skill Category 4 | Skill Category 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Decision Making Describe opportunities or problems, and recommend courses of action to address them. | Communication Create authentic communications appropriate for a specific audience and purpose. | Collaboration Work collaboratively with others to accomplish a goal or task. |
| 3.A Describe internal, market, and external factors that affect a business or individual, and explain how and why they create opportunities and/or problems. | 4.A Present business and personal financial data (e.g., data visualizations and financial statements) in accurate, precise, accessible formats targeted for a specific audience and purpose. | 5.A Develop clear shared team objectives related to a business task or project consistent with vision, mission, and goals. |
| 3.B Explain how potential courses of action could capitalize on an opportunity or solve a problem for a business or individual. | 4.B Create authentic business communications (e.g., surveys, business cases) that are accurate, precise, accessible formats targeted for a specific audience and purpose. | 5.B Define clear roles and responsibilities for members of a team working to accomplish a goal, task, or project. |
| 3.C Establish decision-making criteria and use them to systematically evaluate different courses of action a business or individual may take. | 5.C Develop and implement effective strategies to motivate individuals and teams to achieve goals related to a business task or project. | |
| 3.D Recommend a decisive course of action for a business or individual, and support the recommendation with persuasive reasoning and evidence. | 5.D Follow agreed-upon deliverables as part of a team working to accomplish a goal, task, or project. |
How We Developed AP Business with Personal Finance
Every AP course is designed—and regularly updated—to include current data, evidence, and findings in each discipline. AP courses are designed to include the content and skills most frequently taught in introductory college courses, so that students who demonstrate mastery on the AP Exam can be placed into upper-division college courses with a strong foundation for success.
The AP Business with Personal Finance course was built in partnership with industry advisors, higher education faculty, high school educators, and career and technical education (CTE) leaders. These advisors were engaged to evaluate the research, recommend course skills, scope, and sequence, and review elements of the course framework and the AP Exam.
Credit and Placement
The AP Program engaged business faculty from colleges and universities to ensure that AP Business with Personal Finance reflects the academic rigor of introductory college courses in the field. Students with qualifying AP Business with Personal Finance Exam scores can earn credit and/or placement in required or elective courses at colleges and universities.
Industry Recognition
The AP Program partnered with industry leaders to ensure the course skills align with employer demand for core requirements in high-growth and high-demand jobs. Along with the potential to earn college credit, students with qualifying scores on the exam will earn the AP Business with Personal Finance Credential. Created in partnership with industry experts, AP Career Kickstart Employer-Endorsed Credentials accelerate students’ progress toward in-demand careers and align with the needs of employers, college-level coursework, and secondary career and technical education programs.
Supporting Teachers
Course Framework
The AP Business with Personal Finance course framework provides a clear and detailed description of the course requirements necessary for student success. The framework specifies what students must know, understand, and be able to do to qualify for college credit or placement and to earn the AP Business with Personal Finance Credential.
Professional Development
Teachers can participate in a range of professional learning programs for AP Business with Personal Finance, such as AP Summer Institutes (APSI) and AP Workshops. Visit Professional Learning Opportunities for more information.
Online AP Community
The AP Business with Personal Finance online community is a space for AP teachers and coordinators to connect with colleagues, participate in lively discussions with experts, and share classroom-ready materials. The community will also offer optional email updates to help make the most of your AP Business with Personal Finance classroom.
AP Business with Personal Finance Advisory Committees
The AP Business with Personal Finance course and credential are developed with faculty and industry experts.
Meet Our Higher Education Advisors:
- Scott Alessandro, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
- David Anderson, Centre College, Danville, Ky.
- Aliaa Bassiouny, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va.
- Richard Bliss, Babson College, Boston, Mass.
- Timothy Calkins, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill.
- Sherad Cravens, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla.
- Victoria Crittenden, Babson College, Boston, Mass.
- Ezenwayi Amaechi Ejiribe, Johnson and Wales University, Providence, R.I.
- Daniel George, Avila University, Overland Park, Kan.
- Steven Malter, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo.
- Marie Mayes, Washington State University, Pullman, Wash.
- Aaron McDaniel, University of California—Berkeley, Berkeley, Calif.
- Ian Norris, Berea College, Berea, Ky.
- Jen Riley, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.
- Scott Stern, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
- Bridget Stomberg, Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind.
Meet Our Industry Advisors
- Natalia Alikhashkina, Director, Omni Programs, Albertsons, Boise, Idaho
- Charles Banks, VP and Manager of Information Security Services, U.S. Bank, Cincinnati, Ohio
- Carter Bradley, Co-Founder and CEO, Veris Insights, Washington, D.C.
- Paul Cheek, Executive Director, Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship and Senior Lecturer, MIT Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
- Philip Freeman, Founder and CEO, Murphy’s Naturals, Inc., & The Loading Dock, Raleigh, N.C.
- Carol Kim, Director of Technology, Data, & AI, IBM, Armonk, N.Y.
- Yvonne Rouse, Executive Director, Oppenheimer & Co Inc., New York, N.Y.
- Dr. Cynthia Sutherland, CISSP Chief Information Security Officer (Former) Joint Chiefs of Staff
- Amber Turley, Vice President, Omni Convenience & Commerce Partnerships, Sephora, San Francisco, Calif.