Certificate III in Business Administration

Administration is at the heart of every business and the skills used to support an organisation are both valuable and necessary to ensure the smooth running of its operations. The Certificate III in Business Administration is the ideal course to lead to the first step in an administration career, or to lay the foundation for specialisations in the arts, accounting, education, legal or medical industries.

Course overview

The Certificate III in Business Administration is suitable for all ages, from school leavers to mature-aged learners and trainees.

The course will develop students' competence in exercising initiative in a business environment, organising workplace information, producing business documents, maintaining financial records, delivering and monitoring a service to customers, participating in occupational health and safety processes, producing texts from notes, producing texts from audio transcription, designing and developing business documents, creating electronic presentations and organising schedules.

Students may also choose to specialise in the legal (BSB31007) or medical (BSB31107) fields.

Career pathways

Upon completion of the Certificate III in Business Administration, graduates can apply for roles such as:

• Accounts clerk
• Clerk
• Junior personal assistant
• Receptionist
• Office administrator
• Legal receptionist
• Junior paralegal
• Medical receptionist

Entry requirements

Entry requirements differ according to course provider. As a minimum, prospective students are expected to have completed an Australian Year 10 or equivalent qualification.

In some cases, although there may be no formal entry requirements, the training organisation has suggested a preferred pathway including:

• Providing evidence of competency in the majority of units required for the BSB20107 Certificate II in Business or other relevant qualification/s or equivalent; or
• With some vocational experience assisting in a range of support roles without a formal business qualification.

Some candidates may also be eligible for a Certificate III in Business Administration (Legal) qualification via a skills assessment pathway, which offers experienced candidates the opportunity to obtain a qualification that recognises their prior knowledge and experience.

Achieving this qualification via skills assessment is ideal for people who want to work as legal secretaries and administrators in a legal environment. It is also suitable for people who want to work in non-legal offices such as accounting firms and banks. 

To be eligible for this qualification, you must be able to use legal terminology, draft legal correspondence, maintain records for time and legal disbursements and apply principles of confidentiality and security in the legal office. You must be able to apply knowledge of the legal system to complete administrative tasks.

Course duration

Course duration is dependent on study mode.

Online and distance study students will have the benefit of self-paced study with the average student able to complete the course within 52 weeks studying 2 hours per week.

Additionally, students studying the full Certificate III will be eligible to attain online help from the yourtutor service. View the introductory video for more information.

Students applying for the skills assessment pathway will generally take less time, approximately 26 weeks.