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Computerised Financial Systems N5: where the marks actually are
The spreadsheet half of the qualification — financial statements, cost and management accounting and budgets, on a spreadsheet and in an accounting package.
N5 is being phased out. DHET is closing the NATED Report 191 programmes and replacing them with occupational qualifications. Its teach-out schedule (DHET TVET Circular TC 0134, 24 July 2025) gives the last national N5 examination for Business and Services Studies as Semester 1 2027. The last cohort gets a first sitting in Semester 2 2026 and one repeat semester — two chances, not the usual open-ended ones.
This is not a reason to stop. The National N Diploma can still be awarded up to 30 June 2029. Complete before 30 June 2026 and you receive the certificate exactly as now; after it, a DHET Statement of Results, which still counts toward the diploma. The Minister confirmed in June 2026 that qualifications already achieved stay valid and enrolled students should carry on.
Check your own dates with your college. The Department has since issued a revised circular, TC 0134(b), which it has not published, and further extensions were gazetted in June 2026 — so the date above is what DHET last put in writing publicly, not a promise about your intake.
What the exam is worth, module by module
These are DHET's own weight values. The syllabus states that a module's weight value gives the time to be spent teaching it and its share of the marks in the final exam — so this table is, in effect, the mark allocation of your paper. It totals 100.
| Module | Weight | |
|---|---|---|
| Financial reports (report writer) on an accounting package | 20 | |
| Budgets on an accounting package | 20 | |
| Financial statements applications on a spreadsheet | 15 | |
| Basic cost and management accounting applications on a spreadsheet | 15 | |
| Analysis and interpretation of financial statements on a spreadsheet | 15 | |
| Financial accounting applications on a spreadsheet | 10 | |
| Mastering a spreadsheet program | 5 |
How to spend your time
- Report writer and budgets in the accounting package are 40 marks together — the two heaviest modules, and the two furthest from anything you did at N4.
- Three spreadsheet application modules are worth 15 each, 45 in total. The spreadsheet is not a side skill in N5; it is nearly half the paper.
- Mastering the spreadsheet program itself is only 5 marks and one week. It is a gateway, not a topic — get fluent fast and spend the time on the applications.
Getting in
You must have passed Computerised Financial Systems N4.
Full time: a minimum of 6 hours per week for one semester.
Also doing N5 this trimester?
These are the other N5 subjects we have syllabus breakdowns for.
- Mathematics N5Integration techniques carries the most marks (24 of 100)
- Industrial Electronics N5Alternating Current Theory carries the most marks (15 of 100)
- Electrotechnics N5DC machines carries the most marks (20 of 100)
- Mechanotechnics N5Conveyor belts and belt drive calculations carries the most marks (20 of 100)
- Power Machines N5Thermodynamics carries the most marks (20 of 100)
- Fluid Mechanics N5Simple hydraulic systems carries the most marks (12 of 100)
- Strength of Materials and Structures N5Temperature-induced stresses carries the most marks (14 of 100)
- Entrepreneurship and Business Management N5Specific management: Control carries the most marks (18 of 100)
Source: DHET — Computerised Financial Systems N5 Syllabus (Report 191, 2025–2026). Module names, weight values, admission requirements and assessment rules on this page are transcribed from that document. The study advice is ours.