1. business and industrial
2. business operations
3. management
4. project management

Communication campaign
Most common issues identified:
Personnel costs & Other direct costs
Antonio Requena Fernández
FCH JU Financial Officer
Personnel costs
Personnel costs
Hours
dedicated to
the project
Hourly rate
2
Hourly rate
Salary
Social security
Pension contribution
Health insurance
Other statutary costs…
Hourly rate
of an
employee
Totalannual
annualcosts
costs
Total
Totalannual
annualcosts
costs
Total
Total annual costs
Annual productive hours
3
Hourly rate: Productive hours
Standard (ALL employees)
Actual (individual)
Total days in a year
365
Weekends
-104
Subtotal
261
Annual holidays
-21
Statutory holidays
-15
Illness & others
-15
Productive days per year
210
You compute the actual individual
number of productive hours for each
employee
The time recording system must
allow keeping track of this number
of actual individual productive hours
If actual productive hours exceeds
standard use actual!!!
Don’t use billable hours!!!
Working hours per day
Productive hours per year
8
1 680
4
Overtime
Overtime may be accepted
 If actually paid according to
beneficiary’s policy AND
 If there is a system that allows
the identification of normal /
overtime hours worked for the
project
The hourly rate applicable to these
«overtime» hours has to be calculated
separately from the hourly rate
applicable to the normal working hours
 In any other case: either
overtime not paid or there is
not clear distinction between
normal and overtime hours
The hourly rate is calculated:
• Adding in the numerator: normal
costs + «overtime» costs (if any)
• Adding in the denominator: normal
hours + «overtime» hours
5
Hourly rate: Productive hours
Activities included
Normal working activities of the
personnel, including:
 Sales and Marketing
 Preparation of proposals
 Administrative time
 Non-project related, general
research activities
 Teaching, training and similar
hours (in the case of
universities/similar bodies)
Activities excluded
 General training (if not project
related)
 General internal meetings (if not
project related)
6
Hours dedicated to the project
The golden rule: Claim ONLY actual hours worked on the project
Timesheets








Alternative evidence
Whole duration of the project
 Must give the same level of
assurance as the timesheets
Full name of beneficiary
Name and signature of employee
 To be assessed by the auditors
Title of the project
Daily, weekly or monthly basis
Amount of hours claimed for the project
Name and signature of a supervisor
Reconcilable with the absences register
7
Example of timesheet
Project Reference
Name of Beneficiary
Name of staff member
Calendar Year
Calendar Month
Calendar Day
Hours worked on this project *
Hours worked on other projects**
Hours worked on other projects**
Hours worked on other projects**
Hours worked on other projects**
Hours worked on other projects**
Other activities
Total hours
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31 Total
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
* In case of absence, indicate one of the reason codes below
** Indicate project reference
Summary for this month
Absences
Weekend
Sick leave
Public holidays
Annual holidays
Other absence
WE
SL
PH
AH
OA
 Reference to the WP
 Brief description of tasks
Other activities
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Total hours
0.0
Hours worked on this project
Hours worked on other projects*
Hours worked on other projects*
Hours worked on other projects*
Hours worked on other projects*
Hours worked on other projects*
Date and signature of staff member
Date and signature of Project Manager/ Coordinator/Responsible
8
Actual personnel costs. Some errors
Personnel
Personnel
costs
costs
Hours
Hours
Annual costs
Productive hours
 Timesheets not reliable
 Claim of more hours than dedicated to the project
 Claim of more hours than substantiated by timesheets
9
Actual personnel costs. Some errors
Personnel
Personnel
costscosts
Annual costs
Hours
Hours
Productive hours
 Timesheets not reliable
 Claim of less hours than dedicated to the project
 Claim of less hours than substantiated by timesheets
10
Actual personnel costs. Some errors
Personnel
Personnel
costs
costs
Annual costs
Hours
Productive
hours
Productive hours
 Use of standard hours instead of actual when the latter are
higher
 Use of billable hours instead of productive hours
11
Average personnel costs
Acceptability criteria for average personnel costs
 Based on the usual cost accounting practice of the beneficiary and
consistently applied to their participations in the Framework Programme
 Based on the actual personnel costs of the beneficiary as registered in its
statutory accounts, without estimated or budgeted elements
 They exclude any ineligible cost item and any cost claimed under
other costs categories in order to avoid double funding
 Number of productive hours shall correspond to usual management
practice of the beneficiary and reflects its actual working standards
12
SME owners
SME owners and other natural person who do not receive a salary
Hourly
rate
Annual living allowance
corresponding to the appropriate
research category published in the
‘People’ Work Programme of the year
of the publication of the call to which
the proposal has been submitted
Country
correction factor
published in the
same document
1 575
100
13
SME owners
Example: SME owner without salary from Austria with 5 years of
experience at the time of deadline of submission of a proposal 2011
Use the tool available at CORDIS
39.71 €/h
58 500 €/year
106.9
1 575
100
14
Other direct costs
The golden rule: Costs attributed directly to the project which can be
identified as such according to the accounting principls of the beneficiary
Travel costs
• Only for staff taking part in the project
• In case of conferences/seminars: copy of the presentations to show direct link to
the project
• Expenses related to daily commute to work are not considered travel costs.
Consumables and supplies
• If they are necessary for the implementation of the project
• Subject to the accounting principles of the beneficiary, the following
consumables/supplies can be considered either direct or indirect costs:
• Water, heating, electricity, maintenance, insurance
• Communication expenses, postal charges, office supplies
• Costs related to general administration and management
• Miscellaneous recurring consumables
15
Other direct costs
The golden rule: Costs attributed directly to the project which can be
identified as such according to the accounting principls of the beneficiary
Minor tasks
• Minor services not identifed in Annex I but needed for the implementation of
the project
• Examples:
• Organisation of the rooms and catering for a meeting (logistic support)
• Printing of material, leaflets, etc.
• Services related to setting up and maintenance of a project website
• To be reported under type of activity “Management”, category of costs
“Subcontracting”
16
Other direct costs
The golden rule: Costs attributed directly to the project which can be
identified as such according to the accounting principls of the beneficiary
Equipment
• If necessary for the implementation of the project
• Costs to be determined according to the beneficiary’s usual accounting
practice
• Possibility of charge 100% equipment acquisition price in 1 reporting
period if national legislation allows it
• Otherwise, depreciation to be charged in each relevant periodic report
• Consider percentage of use in the project
• Depreciation costs for equipment bought before the start of the project
• Yes, if the equipment has not yet been fully depreciated , then the
remaining depreciation can be eligible under the project
• Subject to the accounting principles of the beneficiary, computers and office
software can be considered either direct or indirect costs
17