Implementation of Separate Costing at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

The execution of a commercial activity may only be agreed upon and begun following authorization by the president on the basis of the submitted documents.

Prior to the launch of a project ...
During project execution ...
After project completion ...

Prior to the launch of a project

Before a project begins, a third-party account must be created at the Finances and Procurement Office (FIN 5). For this, the following documents are required:

  • A form for tax assessment (third-party questionnaire, see download area)
  • Contractual or other basis for execution of tasks (a model contract will shortly be made available in the download area)
  • Quotation costing For this purpose there are basically two possible options:
    • Market price
      An assessment is to be made on whether a market price exists. For this purpose, at least three quotations from competitors are to be provided. Your own price should be determined according to the highest external offer.
    • Calculation procedure for settlement according to full costs Should a market price not exist, a pre-calculation based on full costing is to be carried out prior to the completion of the project (a calculation procedure is available in the download area). In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact the FT Office regarding questions on project pre-calculation.
  • The sample calculation must contain the following information:
  • Total working hours of additionally employed staff in person-months
  • Total working hours of permanent members of staff in person-months
  • Calculation of tax write-offs regarding equipment not yet financed through third-party funding
  • All further material costs (expendable items, travel costs and other)
  • Profit mark-up of 3.08 percent (minimum)
  • VAT

The overhead rate is multiplied by the costs for scientific staff in the sample calculation in order to calculate the "full costs" of the project.

The profit mark-up is recalculated annually and currently amounts to 3.08 percent. Higher profit mark-ups are of course possible.

During project execution

In their annual financial statement, the university must verify that it has not received any state support for economic projects. Members of staff financed by state subsidies are therefore required to clearly record their hours worked on behalf of commercial projects. This is only possible by means of working time records.

The following employees are not affected by the obligatory recording of total working hours subject to the separate costing:

Members of staff financed by third parties, special federal or national funds, scholarships, etc.

Members of staff directly financed through a respective third-party funded project. These persons are not required to record their total working hours, as it is assumed that, in terms of their contracts, they are working only on this particular project.

Secretaries, administrative or library service employees, teaching assistants, caretakers, etc. This employee group is taken into account in the separate costing within the context of the material price increases (overheads), which form a part of the cost calculation.

The working time records of federally financed members of staff are to be carried out promptly, correctly, and per working day. Please use the time sheet templates, which you will find in the download center under Separate Costing. If you are simultaneously also involved in an EU project, please use the timesheet template for the 7th EU Framework Program for Researchers. For projects in the economic sector, please fill in the part of the form with a green background.

Please send the records for one month to Office FIN 5, Ms. Vogl, at the latest by the 15th of the following month.

After project completion

In order to verify that costs have been completely covered, a post-calculation has to be created annually and after the completion of the project, in which incurred costs as well as the actual working hours during the project are to be taken into consideration. In it, the same calculation procedure is used as for the application. However, the non-personnel and personnel expenses directly incurred during the actual financial year and the respective overhead surcharges are relevant here. The overall result becomes definite only once the post-calculation has been carried out following the completion of the project. A decision by the university management board regarding the assignment of a profit margin and overheads is still pending.