Q.Distinguish between business and profession.

Business and profession are both ways of earning a livelihood, but they differ in nature, qualification, and reward.

Business and profession are both legitimate ways of earning a livelihood, but they differ on several counts.

• Nature: Business produces or exchanges goods and services; a profession renders specialised, personal services based on expert knowledge (a doctor, a lawyer, a chartered accountant).
• Qualification: Business generally requires no minimum prescribed qualification; a profession requires specialised training and membership of a recognised professional body.
• Capital: Business, depending on its scale, needs varying and often substantial capital investment; a profession needs only limited capital, mainly for office and equipment.
• Reward: A business earns profit, which is uncertain and can even be a loss; a professional earns a fee fixed largely by their own judgement of the service given.
• Transfer of interest: A business (a shop, a firm) can generally be transferred to another person; the personal skill behind a profession cannot be transferred, even if the practice itself can be handed over to a limited extent.
• Code of conduct: A professional is bound by the code of conduct of their professional body, whereas a business person is not bound in the same formal way.

A comparison table (Basis / Business / Profession) is an equally acceptable way to answer this, and often scores better in a written examination than continuous prose.

Students sometimes claim a profession involves "no risk at all" -- a professional does bear some risk (of losing clients, of liability for negligence), it is simply not the same kind of financial risk a business owner bears on invested capital.