OxfordAQA IGCSE Accounting: Internal and external stakeholders (9215) – Revision Notes

These notes condense the first content point of section 3.5 of the OxfordAQA International GCSE Accounting (9215) specification, version 1.2, for exams from May/June 2026: identifying internal and external stakeholders and their interests. For full explanations and a worked example, read the study guide. When you are ready to test yourself, use the practice questions. Course pages: the OxfordAQA IGCSE Accounting hub, the checklist and the free diagnostics.

All amounts are in dollars and all business names are invented.

The list to learn

A stakeholder is a person or group with an interest in a business because its results or decisions affect them.

Type	Group	One-line interest
Internal	Employees	Job security, pay, conditions
Internal	Management	Performance against targets, decisions, own job or bonus
Internal	Owners/shareholders	Profit, dividends, value of their investment
External	Customers	Reliable supply, fair price, quality, service
External	Suppliers	Prompt payment, continued orders
External	Government	Taxes, law and regulation, jobs
External	Lenders	Repayment and interest, security
External	Local community	Jobs, environment, local spending

The specification gives exactly these eight groups, three internal and five external.

Method in steps

1. Read the question: is it asking you to identify, state an interest, or explain why a group wants information?
2. Name the group using the specification’s wording.
3. State what that group wants.
4. Tie it to a figure or fact in the scenario, such as profit, a loan or the number of staff.
5. If the question asks for a decision, say who gains and who loses.

Internal stakeholders in brief

• Employees: they rely on the business for income. Falling profit may mean no pay rise or fewer jobs. They are not usually interested in profit for its own sake.
• Management: they run the business and can ask for any report. They need figures to control costs and plan. A bonus may depend on profit.
• Owners/shareholders: they are paid last, after costs and interest. Profit belongs to them. A dividend is the part paid out as cash. Retained profit is the part kept in the business.

External stakeholders in brief

• Customers: they want the business to keep trading, especially if they rely on it for a product, a warranty or a deposit already paid.
• Suppliers: they sell on credit, so they are exposed to the risk of not being paid. They look at how much the business owes and whether it has cash.
• Government: it collects taxes linked to profit, sales and wages, and it expects the business to follow the law.
• Lenders: they are repaid a fixed amount plus interest. They do not share extra profit, so they care about safety and spare cash.
• Local community: it has no financial claim but is affected by jobs, noise, traffic and waste.

Must-know distinctions

Compare	Key difference
Internal and external	Internal groups work in, run or own the business and can ask for any figure. External groups rely on what is published or given to them
Dividend and interest	Dividend goes to shareholders and depends on profit. Interest goes to lenders and is owed whatever the profit
Owners and lenders	Owners want growth in profit. Lenders want safe repayment
Management and owners	In a company they are often different people. In a small business they may be the same person
Retained profit and dividend	Retained profit stays in the business. A dividend leaves it

Small worked reminder

Pennine Bakes Ltd has revenue of 360,000 and profit for the year of 27,000.

• Profit is 7.5% of revenue (27,000 / 360,000 x 100).
• It owes its flour supplier 44,000 against annual purchases of 264,000. That is about 60.8 days of purchases (44,000 / 264,000 x 365), which a supplier would notice when deciding how long to allow for payment.
• A bank loan of 40,000 at 8% costs 3,200 in interest each year. Treat 27,000 as the profit before that interest, so the bank sees a comfortable margin to pay it.

The same business, three readers: the owner sees the profit, the supplier sees the debt owed, the lender sees whether interest can be paid.

Where interests collide

If the business does this	A group that benefits	A group that may object
Pays out most of its profit as dividend	Shareholders	Lenders and employees, who want it to stay stable
Cuts staff to save cost	Owners	Employees, local community
Stretches payment to suppliers	The business	Suppliers
Cuts prices to win sales	Customers	Owners, if profit falls
Builds a larger site	Employees, owners	Local community

Which information each group reads first

Group	What they look for	Why
Employees	Profit trend and any news of cost cutting	Shows whether jobs and pay are safe
Management	Detailed internal reports	Needed to control costs and meet targets
Owners/shareholders	Profit for the year, dividend, retained profit	Their return and the growth of their investment
Customers	Signs the business is stable	They need goods, repairs or refunds in future
Suppliers	Amounts owed and cash available	Decides whether to keep selling on credit
Government	Profit, sales and wages	Basis for the taxes due
Lenders	Profit before interest, loans already owed, assets	Decides whether repayment is safe
Local community	Local news on jobs, expansion or closure	Affects their everyday lives

Profit appears in several rows, but for different reasons. A good answer always says why.

Two model answers

Question: State two interests of lenders in a business. [2]

Model answer: lenders want to be repaid the amount borrowed on the agreed dates, and they want interest paid on time. Each point is a separate interest, so write them as two separate statements.

Question: Explain why shareholders and lenders might disagree about a large dividend. [3]

Model answer: shareholders receive the dividend, so a large one increases their return. Lenders are owed fixed repayments, so they prefer that cash is kept in the business to meet them. A large dividend therefore benefits shareholders but may reduce the cash available to repay lenders.

Notice the pattern: say what group one gains, say what group two risks, then link them with “therefore”. This three-step shape works for most conflict questions.

Command words you may meet with this topic

• Identify or state: a short answer is enough, such as naming a group or giving one interest.
• Explain: give the interest and the reason, using a linking word such as because or so.
• Suggest: apply the idea to the scenario given, even if the answer is not in your notes.
• Evaluate or justify: weigh up more than one group and reach a conclusion.

Memory aids

• Internal: “EMO” for employees, management, owners.
• External: “CSGLL” for customers, suppliers, government, lenders, local community. Say it aloud a few times, or make up your own sentence from those letters.
• Money flows: wages go to employees, dividends to shareholders, interest to lenders, payments for goods to suppliers, taxes to the government.
• Ask of every stakeholder: what do they give to the business, and what do they get back? The answer is usually their interest.

Quick self-test

Try each question without looking back. Answers follow.

1. How many internal stakeholders does the specification list, and what are they?
2. How many external stakeholders does it list, and what are they?
3. Why is a lender an external stakeholder even though it deals with the business regularly?
4. State one interest of employees that is not “profit”.
5. Which stakeholder receives a dividend?
6. Which stakeholder receives interest on a loan?
7. Why might a supplier refuse to give credit to a business?
8. Name one tax-related interest of the government.
9. State one way the local community can be affected by a business.
10. Pennine Bakes pays a dividend of 9,000 out of profit of 27,000. How much profit is retained and what percentage of profit is paid out?

Answers

1. Three: employees, management, owners/shareholders.
2. Five: customers, suppliers, government, lenders, local community.
3. It does not work in, run or own the business. It relies on information that the business supplies.
4. Job security, pay rises, pension contributions, working conditions or training (any one).
5. Owners/shareholders.
6. Lenders.
7. It doubts that the business will pay what it owes on time.
8. Taxes on profit, tax collected on sales, or tax on employees’ wages (any one).
9. Jobs, local spending, noise, traffic, waste or the effect of closure (any one).
10. Retained profit is 27,000 - 9,000 = 18,000. The dividend is 9,000 / 27,000 = 33.3% of profit.

Where marks are usually lost

• Writing “profit” as the interest of every stakeholder
• Placing lenders, suppliers or customers in the internal list
• Giving a general statement that is not linked to the scenario
• Confusing dividend and interest
• Leaving out the local community or the government
• Naming a group but not saying what it wants
• Describing a conflict without saying who gains and who loses
• Adding tax rules from one country when “taxes” is enough

Frequently asked questions

Who are the internal and external stakeholders in OxfordAQA International GCSE Accounting 9215? The specification lists eight groups. The three internal stakeholders are employees, management and owners or shareholders; the five external stakeholders are customers, suppliers, government, lenders and the local community.

What is the difference between a dividend and loan interest? A dividend goes to shareholders and depends on profit. Loan interest goes to lenders and is owed whatever the profit.

What is a stakeholder? A stakeholder is a person or group with an interest in a business because its results or decisions affect them.

Why might shareholders and lenders disagree about a large dividend? Shareholders receive the dividend, so a large one increases their return. Lenders are owed fixed repayments and prefer cash to be kept in the business to meet them, so a large dividend may reduce the cash available to repay them.

What is the difference between internal and external stakeholders? Internal groups work in, run or own the business and can ask for any figure. External groups rely on what is published or given to them.

Official syllabus

OxfordAQA International GCSE Accounting (9215), specification version 1.2, section 3.5, published by OxfordAQA, for exams from May/June 2026.