BSB250 Business Citizenship
The Complete Exam Bible · S1 2026BSB250 Overview
- Queensland University of Technology
- S1 2026
- 9 chapters
- Law
Business Citizenship teaches managers to reason about ethics (the four frameworks), the Australian legal system (contracts, negligence, agency, business structures) and the social purpose of business (CSR, justice and the UN SDGs).
- Assessed by Final exam 50% · Portfolio of problem sets 30% · Personal code of ethics 20%
- Key terms ILAC, Consideration, Duty of care, Vicarious liability
- How to prepare Because the exam is open-book, your edge is speed of application, not recall.
- Most asked Is BSB250 open-book?
How BSB250 is assessed
| Component | Weight | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Final exam | 50% | Open-book (any paper-based materials, no devices) · 3 hours + 10 min perusal · ILAC problems + short response, mainly Weeks 5–12 |
| Portfolio of problem sets | 30% | Responses to four fortnightly tutorial problems across the semester |
| Personal code of ethics | 20% | Individual written code of ethics (+ implementation plan), built from the ethics frameworks |
What BSB250 covers
Ethics, law and the social purpose of business → one exam-ready map. Each topic links to its free chapter guide.
Ethics Foundations & the Four Frameworks
Consequentialism · deontology · virtue · justiceThis chapter is the ethical-reasoning foundation of BSB250: it separates ethics (the justification of right and wrong) from law, custom and religion, hammers the signature trap that legal does not equal ethical, and teaches the four normative frameworks — consequentialism, deontology, virtue and justice — as four lenses on one question, "what is the right thing to do?".
- Ethics vs morality, law, custom and religion
- Legality is not ethicality (law = minimum floor)
- The three decision perspectives: ethical / legal / strategic
- Consequentialism / utilitarianism (maximise net welfare)
- Deontology / duty (Kant, dignity, red lines)
- Virtue ethics (character + practical wisdom)
The Australian Legal System & Accountability
Common law vs statute · the courts · sources of lawThis chapter sets the legal foundation of BSB250: where Australian law comes from — judge-made common law built case-by-case through the doctrine of precedent versus statute passed by parliament — how the court hierarchy makes precedent binding, and the ILAC method that structures every problem-question answer.
- Common law (judge-made) vs statute (parliament-made)
- Doctrine of precedent & stare decisis
- Where the two collide: valid statute prevails
- The Australian court hierarchy (High Court down to Magistrates)
- Ratio decidendi vs obiter dicta; binding vs persuasive
- Reading a case: material facts & distinguishing
Contract Formation: Do I Have a Deal?
Offer · acceptance · consideration · intention · capacityThis chapter answers the core BSB250 question "do I actually have a deal?" by breaking a contract into its three essential elements: agreement (a valid offer plus a valid acceptance), intention to create legal relations, and consideration — with capacity as a further validity check.
- Offer vs invitation to treat (Boots, Harvey v Facey; ad-as-offer Carlill)
- How an offer dies: rejection, counter-offer (Hyde v Wrench), revocation, lapse
- The three requirements of valid acceptance + silence is not acceptance (Felthouse)
- Postal rule vs instantaneous communication (Adams v Lindsell)
- Intention: the two rebuttable presumptions + objective test (Ermogenous)
- Consideration: moves from the promisee, sufficient not adequate (Thomas v Thomas)
Contract Terms, Consent & Remedies
Terms · vitiating factors · breach · remediesOnce a contract exists, BSB250 asks the follow-up question: what is actually in the deal, how important each promise is, and what can unravel or remedy it. You learn to sort promises into conditions (essential) and warranties (minor), tell a binding term apart from a mere representation, spot vitiating factors that defeat consent, and read off the right remedy for a breach.
- Express vs implied terms
- Conditions, warranties & intermediate (innominate) terms
- Term vs representation — the Dick Bentley three factors
- Written-contract rules: signed binds & the Parol Evidence Rule
- Collateral contracts & exclusion / disclaimer clauses
- Vitiating factors: misrepresentation, duress, unconscionability
Negligence I: Duty of Care
The duty question · reasonable foreseeability · the neighbour principleThis chapter is gate one of a negligence claim: before you ever argue carelessness, you must show the defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care.
- Negligence as its own 'compartment' (rights additional to contract, no privity)
- The neighbour principle: Donoghue v Stevenson and Grant v AKM
- The negligence spine: duty then breach then causation (then defences)
- Route 1 - established categories where duty is presumed
- Route 2 - the novel-case test: reasonable foreseeability + salient features
- 'Ripples in a pond' and the foreseeable plaintiff (Bourhill v Young limit)
Negligence II: Breach, Causation & Defences
The standard of care · causation · remoteness · defencesThis chapter runs the back three elements of a negligence claim once a duty of care is assumed: breach (the standard of care, now codified in the Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld) s 9), causation (the 'but for' test plus scope of liability under s 11), and the two examinable defences.
- Standard of care & the s 9(1) breach gate (foreseeable + not insignificant + reasonable precautions)
- The calculus of negligence: s 9(2) factors weighed, not tallied
- Factual causation — the 'but for' test (s 11(1)(a))
- Scope of liability / remoteness & novus actus interveniens (s 11(1)(b))
- Recognised damage: actual, not too remote
- Voluntary assumption of an obvious risk (volenti, s 13–14) — complete defence
Working Through Others: Agency & Vicarious Liability
Authority · the principal–agent relationship · vicarious liabilityThis chapter covers how a business legally acts through other people: the three-party agency relationship (principal, agent, third party), the five sources of an agent's authority, and the separate doctrine of vicarious liability for an employee's torts.
- The agency triangle: principal, agent, third party — and who ends up bound
- Five sources of authority: express actual, implied actual, apparent, ratification, necessity
- Apparent (ostensible) authority and the three-part holding-out test (Panorama)
- Apparent authority surviving termination if no notice is given (Summers v Solomon)
- Ratification: retrospective adoption of an unauthorised act (Bolton Partners v Lambert)
- The agent as fiduciary: instructions, disclosure, no delegation, no conflict
Business Structures & the Corporate Form
Sole trader · partnership · company · separate legal personalityThis chapter answers the W10 question "what is the best legal structure for my business?" across the three for-profit forms BSB250 examines — sole trader, partnership and company — with the whole topic hinging on one idea: whether the business is a separate legal entity.
- Sole trader: owner-is-the-business and unlimited liability
- Partnership and the s 5(1) three-part test
- Mutual agency and joint & several liability
- Company as a separate legal entity (Salomon v Salomon)
- Limited liability and the corporate veil
- Perpetual succession and incorporation via ASIC
The Social Purpose of Business & the UN SDGs
CSR · stakeholder theory · justice · the 17 Sustainable Development GoalsThis chapter is the normative core of BSB250: what a business owes beyond making money.
- Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the shareholder-vs-stakeholder pendulum
- Carroll's CSR pyramid: economic / legal / ethical / philanthropic
- Stakeholder theory (Freeman) and the Mendelow power/interest grid
- Justice dimensions: procedural, corrective, distributive
- Four distributive concepts: fairness, equality, desert, fundamental rights
- Three justice traditions: Utilitarian, Rawls, Nozick
The final exam is 50% of your grade and open-book (any paper notes, no electronic devices), examined mainly through the ILAC method on legal problems plus short responses — so this guide drills ILAC, the elements of each cause of action, and the framework vocabulary that earns the marks.
Worked example · free
The ILAC method on a contract problem — mark by mark
- +1Issue: Is there a binding contract — specifically, was the offer accepted, or did the reply destroy it?
- +2Law: Formation needs offer, acceptance, consideration and intention. Acceptance must be unqualified; a reply that changes a term is a counter-offer, which rejects and extinguishes the original offer.
- +2Application: The “$45” reply changes the price — a counter-offer, not acceptance. It killed the original $50 offer, which the buyer can no longer accept. Silence is not acceptance.
- +1Conclusion: No contract was formed; the seller was free to sell elsewhere.
Key terms
- ILAC
- The answer structure for legal problems: Issue, Law, Application, Conclusion — state the question, the relevant rule, apply it to the facts, then conclude. The marks live in Application.
- Consideration
- Something of value each party gives in exchange — a required element of a simple contract; a bare promise with no consideration is generally not binding.
- Duty of care
- A legal obligation to take reasonable care not to harm those it is reasonably foreseeable would be affected by your acts or omissions — the first element of negligence.
- Vicarious liability
- Liability of one party (usually an employer) for the wrongful acts of another (an employee) committed in the course of their employment.
- Separate legal personality
- A company is a legal person distinct from its members; it can own property, sue and be sued, and its shareholders' liability is generally limited to their shares.
- Stakeholder theory
- The view that a business is accountable not only to shareholders but to all who affect or are affected by it — employees, customers, community and environment.
BSB250 FAQ
Is BSB250 open-book?
Yes — the official assessment information states the final exam is open-book: you may bring any paper-based materials (no page limit), but no electronic devices. Confirm the current rules in your unit outline. An open-book exam rewards applying the law fast, not memorising it.
How is BSB250 assessed?
A 50% open-book final exam (ILAC problems + short response), a 30% portfolio of four fortnightly problem responses, and a 20% personal code of ethics. Confirm the weights in your unit outline.
What is the ILAC method?
Issue, Law, Application, Conclusion — the structure for answering a legal problem. Identify the legal issue, state the relevant law, apply it element-by-element to the facts, then conclude. Examiners award most marks for Application.
What's on the BSB250 exam?
Mainly Weeks 5–12: contract formation and terms, negligence (duty, breach, causation), agency and vicarious liability, business structures, and the social-purpose/SDG material — answered via ILAC and short responses.
Is using AskSia for BSB250 cheating?
No. AskSia is a study reference written in our own words — we host none of your lecturer's files, and Sia teaches you the method to earn the marks; it does not complete or sit your assessments.
Questions students ask in each BSB250 chapter
- What are the four ethical frameworks in BSB250?
- Consequentialism / utilitarianism (judge the outcome — maximise net welfare), deontology / duty (follow universal rules and human dignity, Kant), virtue ethics (judge the character of the actor), and justice / fairness (fair process and fair distribution, Rawls). Each is strong exactly where the others are weak. Chapter 01 · Ethics Foundations & the Four Frameworks
- What is the difference between common law and statute in Australia?
- Common law is judge-made law built from court decisions and grown case-by-case through the doctrine of precedent; statute is law enacted by parliament. They are the two primary sources of Australian law. Where a valid statute is inconsistent with common law, the statute prevails — for example, in negligence the duty of care is common law (Donoghue v Stevenson) but breach and causation are now statutory under the Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld) ss 9 and 11. Chapter 02 · The Australian Legal System & Accountability
- Is a price tag or shop display an offer?
- No — goods on a shelf or a price list are an invitation to treat, not an offer (Pharmaceutical Society of GB v Boots). The customer makes the offer at the till, and the seller is free to accept or reject it. An advertisement is usually an invitation to treat too, unless it is a definite unilateral promise like Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball. Chapter 03 · Contract Formation: Do I Have a Deal?
- What is the difference between a condition and a warranty in contract law?
- A condition is an essential term: if breached, the innocent party can terminate the contract AND/OR claim damages (Associated Newspapers v Bancks). A warranty is a minor term: breach gives damages only, with no right to terminate (Bettini v Gye). The exam move is to classify the term first, because the class dictates the remedy. Chapter 04 · Contract Terms, Consent & Remedies
- What are the three elements of a negligence claim and in what order?
- Duty of care, then breach, then causation (leading to actual damage), and only then defences. They are proved in that order, and failing any gate stops the claim there. This chapter covers gate one - duty - while breach and causation come next. Chapter 05 · Negligence I: Duty of Care
- Is breach in Queensland decided by common law or statute?
- By statute. The Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld) s 9 codifies the breach test: s 9(1) is a three-limb gate (foreseeable + not insignificant + a reasonable person would have taken precautions) and s 9(2) lists the calculus factors. In the exam, cite the section first and use cases like Wagon Mound (No 1), Bolton v Stone, Paris, Latimer and Watt to show how each limb applies. Chapter 06 · Negligence II: Breach, Causation & Defences
- What are the five sources of an agent's authority?
- Express actual, implied actual, apparent (ostensible), ratification, and necessity. The first two are real authority the principal gave; apparent authority comes from the principal's holding out; ratification is retrospective adoption of an unauthorised act; necessity is a rare emergency authority. In BSB250 the exam-decisive one is apparent authority. Chapter 07 · Working Through Others: Agency & Vicarious Liability
- What is the difference between a sole trader, a partnership and a company?
- A sole trader is one owner with no separate legal entity and unlimited liability. A partnership is two or more people carrying on business in common for profit — also not a separate entity, with mutual agency and joint and several unlimited liability. A company is a separate legal entity (Salomon v Salomon) that gives its shareholders limited liability and enjoys perpetual succession. Chapter 08 · Business Structures & the Corporate Form
- What is the difference between shareholder and stakeholder views of business?
- Shareholder primacy (Friedman) says the firm's only social responsibility is to lawfully maximise owner returns. Stakeholder theory (Freeman) says the firm owes obligations to everyone who affects or is affected by it — employees, customers, suppliers, community, environment — because serving them creates long-run value. BSB250 treats ‘business purpose’ as a contested pendulum that has swung back and forth since the 1970s. Chapter 09 · The Social Purpose of Business & the UN SDGs
How to study for the exam
Because the exam is open-book, your edge is speed of application, not recall. Build an indexed ILAC template for each cause of action (contract formation, contract terms, negligence, agency) listing the elements in order, so under time pressure you can march through them against the facts. Practise the four ethical frameworks as a decision tool, and keep a one-line statement of each SDG pillar.
Tab your notes so you can find the right test in seconds — an open-book exam punishes searching, not knowing.
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