Florida Business & Finance practice questions: 8 samples with worked answers.

Most people walk into Business & Finance having never answered a single question under a clock. That’s the number one reason they run out of time and fail. So before you read another study guide, do the thing you’re actually going to be graded on — answer some questions.

Here are eight, pulled across the topics B&F leans on hardest: the math, lien law, payroll, and the contract documents. Each one comes with the answer, why it’s right, and where it lives in the books — because on this exam, knowing where to look is half the score. (If you want the full picture of the section first, start with how to pass Business & Finance.)

Try each one before you read the answer. No clock here — but on the real thing you get about 3 minutes 15 seconds per question, so don’t get comfortable.

The math (this is where people lose points)

1. Markup vs. margin — the classic trap. A job costs you $9,000 in labor and materials. You want a 25% profit margin on the sale price. What do you charge?

• A) $11,250
• B) $11,500
• C) $12,000
• D) $12,250

Answer: C — $12,000. Margin is a percentage of the price, not the cost. So price = cost ÷ (1 − margin) = $9,000 ÷ 0.75 = $12,000. Your $3,000 profit is exactly 25% of $12,000. Answer A ($11,250) is the trap — that’s a 25% markup on cost, which only gives you a 20% margin. Markup and margin are not the same number, and B&F will absolutely make you prove you know it. (Builder’s Guide to Accounting — pricing and profit.)

2. Current ratio. Your company has $150,000 in current assets and $100,000 in current liabilities. What’s the current ratio?

• A) 0.67
• B) 1.5
• C) 2.0
• D) $50,000

Answer: B — 1.5. Current ratio = current assets ÷ current liabilities = 150,000 ÷ 100,000 = 1.5. It’s a measure of whether you can cover short-term debts. Answer D is the distractor for people who subtract instead of divide — that’s working capital, not the ratio. (Builder’s Guide to Accounting — financial ratios.)

3. Federal payroll. An employee earns $2,000 in gross wages for the pay period and is well under the annual wage base. How much do you withhold for the employee’s share of Social Security tax?

• A) $124
• B) $153
• C) $29
• D) $248

Answer: A — $124. The employee Social Security rate is 6.2%. $2,000 × 0.062 = $124. (Answer C, $29, is the Medicare piece at 1.45% — a different line.) For 2025 the Social Security wage base is $176,100; above that, you stop withholding the SS portion. (IRS Circular E, reproduced in the Florida Contractors Manual.)

Lien law (Chapter 713 shows up every time)

4. Notice to Owner timing. A subcontractor who has no direct contract with the owner wants to protect lien rights. Within how many days of first furnishing labor or materials must the Notice to Owner be served?

• A) 15 days
• B) 30 days
• C) 45 days
• D) 90 days

Answer: C — 45 days. Anyone not in privity with the owner has to serve the Notice to Owner within 45 days of first furnishing. Miss it and you lose the right to lien — no exceptions, no grace period. This is one of the most-tested numbers on the whole exam. (Florida Statutes Chapter 713; full text is in the Contractors Manual, Chapter 2.)

5. Recording the claim of lien. After a contractor finishes furnishing labor and materials, how long do they have to record a claim of lien?

• A) 45 days after first furnishing
• B) 60 days after the owner’s last payment
• C) 90 days after the last furnishing
• D) 1 year after the project closes

Answer: C — 90 days after the last furnishing. The claim of lien must be recorded within 90 days of the final day you furnished labor or materials to the job. Don’t confuse it with the 45-day Notice to Owner — different deadline, different starting point. The exam loves to put both numbers in the same question and watch you mix them up. (Florida Statutes Chapter 713.)

The contracts and the business (don’t skip these)

6. The AIA documents. Which AIA document is the General Conditions of the Contract for Construction?

• A) A101
• B) A201
• C) A401
• D) A701

Answer: B — A201. A201 is the General Conditions — the rules of engagement between owner, contractor, and architect. A401 is the contractor–subcontractor agreement; A701 covers instructions to bidders. You’ll have all three on the reference list, so tab them by number — when the question names a document, you want to flip straight to it. (AIA A201.)

7. How a C corporation is taxed. A C corporation earns a profit and distributes some of it to shareholders as dividends. How is that money taxed?

• A) Once, at the corporate level only
• B) Once, at the shareholder level only
• C) Twice — at the corporate level and again at the shareholder level
• D) It isn’t taxed if it’s reinvested

Answer: C — twice. This is “double taxation”: the corporation pays tax on its profit, then shareholders pay tax again on the dividends they receive. It’s the main reason small contractors often choose an S corporation or LLC instead — those pass income straight through to the owners and skip the corporate-level tax. (Contractors Manual — business organization.)

8. Recovering overhead. General overhead — office rent, your admin salary, the insurance that isn’t tied to any one job — is best recovered how?

• A) Bill it all to your largest active job
• B) Spread it across every job as a percentage markup
• C) Leave it out of bids and absorb it from profit
• D) Charge it to the customer as a separate line after the job

Answer: B — spread it across every job. Overhead you can’t trace to a single project still has to get paid, so you build it into every bid as a percentage on top of direct costs. Dump it on one job (A) and you’ll lose that bid; ignore it (C) and it quietly eats your profit. Knowing the difference between direct costs, general overhead, and profit is core B&F. (Builder’s Guide to Accounting — overhead and job costing.)

How’d you do?

If a few of these stung — especially the markup-vs-margin one, or the two lien deadlines — that’s normal, and it’s exactly the stuff that’s fixable with reps. Eight questions can’t tell you where you really stand, though. The real test is 120 questions in 6.5 hours, and the clock is the thing that beats most people.

So take one, timed, for free. It’s five Business & Finance questions in 15 minutes — a real countdown, flag and jump like the actual Pearson VUE test, and a breakdown at the end of which knowledge areas you’re weak in, so you know what to study next instead of guessing.

→ Take a free timed practice test

And if you want the whole section handled — the math worked step by step and the books tabbed the right way — that’s what the Business & Finance course is for. It’s still being built, and I’m selling founding seats at $97 instead of the $197 launch price while it is.

Want more on why this section is the one that fails people? Read why people fail Business and Finance and the open-book trap.