Financial Consulting

About this event

Financial Consulting (event code FCE) is an individual event that tests whether you can run a real consultation from opening to close. DECA publishes a new scenario every year. For 2026-27 you are a financial consultant meeting a small-business owner in their late 50s who is starting to think about retirement and succession, and wants to weigh selling, transferring or winding down the business while protecting their financial security. Before competition you research an actual company you will represent and real products or services, plus the target customer, and build a presentation that walks the client through the selling or consulting process. Two parts: a 100-question, multiple-choice Finance cluster exam (Business Administration Core plus cluster performance indicators; this event uses the performance indicators for the exam only), and a consultation of up to 15 minutes including the judge's questions. The judge plays the buyer or client, lets you finish without interrupting unless you ask them to respond, and may ask questions if time remains. You may bring presentation notes and hand-carried visual aids; no power or internet is supplied. There is no written entry to submit. Scoring: the presentation evaluation is out of 100 points and is weighted twice the exam score; the exam score carries forward into the finals. The evaluation form (shared by all three events) scores opening and engagement, assessing needs, positioning value (features, benefits, value), the solution recommendation and objection handling, closing and follow-up, and presentation technique.

What judges score

What's on the exam

Curated by ChapterPrep. Free unless noted. External links open in a new tab.