Free practice questions for the Florida CILB Business and Financial Management exam — the open-book test every Florida contractor applicant takes, whatever the trade — with a written explanation on every answer, in English, Spanish, and Russian.
8 questions, about 4 minutes. No account needed — pick an answer to see whether it's right and read the explanation, the same explanations you get on every question in the full course.
Practice across the full question bank.
Understand why the correct answer works — not just which letter is right.
Spend more time on the questions you miss.
Practice under exam-style time pressure before exam day.
Every question tells you why the correct answer is correct and defines the terms it uses — so you learn the rule, not just the answer.
Questions are written from scratch against the official codes and agency publications for this exam — never copied from the real exam.
Every question and explanation is fully translated, with the English exam term kept alongside — not a shallow machine translation.
LICENA is a practice tool, not a school. We don't promise a pass — we help you understand the material and walk in prepared.
The full Florida Business & Finance course is 500 questions across 5 blocks sized to DBPR's six content areas — Establishing the Contracting Business 11%, Managing Administrative Duties 26%, Managing Trade Operations 10%, Conducting Accounting Functions 32%, Managing Human Resources 6%, Complying with Government Regulations 15% — written from open sources: the 2026 Florida Statutes, the board's rules in chapter 61G4 F.A.C., IRS Publications 15, 15-A, 15-B, 538, 583, 946 and 334, the FLSA, and OSHA's 29 CFR 1904 and 1926. Accounting questions give every number in the question. The exam's commercial references — Builder's Guide to Accounting, the Contractors Manual and the AIA documents — are cited by title only.
Exam structure, topics, who needs it and official resources.
The Business and Finance exam is the one Florida contractor exam every CILB applicant shares: general, building and residential contractors take it alongside Contract Administration and Project Management, and every trade specialty takes it alongside its trade-knowledge exam. DBPR sets the format — 120 questions in 6.5 hours, open book, 70% to pass, by computer at Pearson VUE, in English or Spanish. Nearly a third of it is accounting, and its Florida law — construction liens, licensing and discipline, workers' compensation — is the state's own. Practice it in the free sample above: no sign-up, with a written explanation on every question.
Florida licenses contractors statewide through the Construction Industry Licensing Board (CILB) at the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), and every state certification path runs through this exam. DBPR's Examinations at a Glance spells it out: Division I contractors — general, building and residential — must pass Business & Finance together with Contract Administration and Project Management; Division II contractors — every other specialty, from air conditioning and plumbing to roofing and pool — must pass Business and Finance together with their trade-knowledge exam. It is the same exam for all of them, so it tests running a contracting business in Florida, not the trade itself. The Candidate Information Booklet adds that a candidate who has passed and later seeks another category may not have to take this part again.
DBPR's Examination Content Information (Revised October 2009) divides the 120 questions into six areas, each of which may vary by about 3%. Establishing the Contracting Business, 11%: business structures, fiduciary duties of officers and directors, licensing, the business plan, fixed assets and insurance. Managing Administrative Duties, 26%: overhead (FICA, FUTA, state unemployment, Medicare, workers' compensation, general liability), bids and estimates, purchasing under the Uniform Commercial Code, invoices and draw requests, the safety program, insurance and contract management including lien law. Managing Trade Operations, 10%: CPM scheduling, submittals and RFIs, OSHA records, ordering, equipment and inventory. Conducting Accounting Functions, 32%: receivables, payables and discounts, cash flow and financial ratios, tax returns, job costs and payroll. Managing Human Resources, 6%: hiring forms, employment and discrimination law, drug testing. Complying with Government Regulations, 15%: immigration, OSHA, tax and NPDES stormwater on the federal side; on the Florida side chapters 455, 713 and 489 Part I of the statutes, the board's rules in chapter 61G4 F.A.C., workers' compensation and sales and use tax. Read it as a plan: accounting and administration together are well over half the exam.
Only the books on DBPR's Business & Finance reference list may come into the room. The list valid for January–December 2026 names Florida Statutes chapter 455 (2025 edition — a bound PDF printout is accepted), Builder's Guide to Accounting (2001), the Contractors Manual (with the IRS Circular E; the 2025 edition is used from February 1, 2026) and three AIA documents: A201 General Conditions (2017), A401 Contractor–Subcontractor Agreement (2017) and A701 Instructions to Bidders (2018). A separate list takes effect January 1, 2027. Books must stay bound; highlighting and underlining are allowed, handwritten or typed notes and Post-it-style tabs are not, and nothing may be written in them during the exam. Open book does not mean slow: 120 questions in 6.5 hours is about three and a quarter minutes each, so the books help most when you already know which chapter holds the answer. LICENA's bank teaches the statutes, rules, tax and accounting topics from the primary sources themselves — the commercial books are named by title only and are not reproduced.
Accounting is the largest area, and DBPR's outline lists basic math under nearly every accounting task — receivables, payables and discounts, cash flow, job costs, payroll. LICENA's bank drills that arithmetic: working capital and the current, quick and debt-to-equity ratios from a balance sheet; markup versus margin; early-payment discounts; percent complete and earned revenue on a job; overhead allocation; payroll taxes on a wage; retainage on a draw. Every calculation gives all of its inputs in the question, so the practice is in setting it up correctly. A silent, hand-held, battery-operated calculator that does not print and has no alphabetic keypad is allowed in the exam; the booklet does not recommend solar models.
Apply first with Professional Testing, Inc. (PTI), the firm DBPR contracts to register candidates and to develop and score CILB exams; completed applications and fees must reach PTI at least 30 days before the exam date. Once approved you may book with Pearson VUE within 72 hours — online or at 888-204-6230 — and take the computer-based exam on any day it is offered. Bring two forms of signature identification, one of them government-issued, with a name and address that match your application. Ask for the Spanish version when you book if you want it: DBPR exams are available in English and Spanish at no additional cost, and a word-for-word translation dictionary is allowed. The result report is handed to you as soon as you finish; 70% passes and scores are not rounded. If you fail, you may review the questions you missed at a Pearson VUE center by requesting it within 21 days, usually with half the original exam time.
The full LICENA Florida Business & Finance course is 500 questions across five blocks sized to DBPR's outline: Business Setup & Florida Licensing · Contracts, Bidding, Liens & Payment · Accounting & Financial Management · Payroll, Taxes & Records · HR, Safety, Workers' Comp & Operations. At 30 questions a day that is under three weeks: one pass to find the gaps, a second pass on the blocks you missed, then the timed final at the real format — 120 questions in 6.5 hours with a 70% pass mark. Give extra time to the accounting and payroll blocks, which together carry the 32% accounting area, and to the lien-law deadlines, which every explanation ties to its section of chapter 713. Your trade or Division I exams are separate; the free OSHA construction practice test covers the federal jobsite safety rules behind the safety-program and OSHA-records topics here.
Try the full bank free for 3 days — no card needed. Then $9.99 for your first month and $19.99/month after that if you decide to continue, cancel anytime. A school sells a full prepaid package; this is a question bank you can stop at any time — and you study on your phone, in your language, whenever you have a few minutes.
Continue Florida Business & Finance practice The free sample above stays free. Creating an account is free — no card needed.LICENA gives you practice questions to study with. We are not an accredited school and we do not guarantee that you will pass any exam.
LICENA provides online practice only. Registration, testing and licensing are handled by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), its Construction Industry Licensing Board (CILB), Professional Testing, Inc. and Pearson VUE — not by LICENA. LICENA is not affiliated with DBPR, the CILB, Professional Testing, Inc. or Pearson VUE.