This sample chart of cost categories is a starting point for service providers. The classes are based on SKR04 (a German standard chart of accounts) so that mapping to financial accounting is easy. Adopt what fits and leave out what you do not need. The most important part is the secondary cost categories in class 9000: one each for repostings, for every allocation and for the salary remainder. You create cost categories as described in Set up cost accounting.
4000 Revenue (group: Revenue)
| No. | Cost category | Typical source |
|---|
| 4100 | Posting revenue | outgoing invoices on a time-and-materials basis |
| 4200 | Fixed-price revenue | fixed-price items |
| 4300 | Licence and maintenance revenue | maintenance contracts, licences |
| 4400 | Recharged travel costs | invoiced cost elements |
| 4900 | Revenue reductions | credit notes, cash discounts |
5000 External services and material (group: Costs)
| No. | Cost category | Typical source |
|---|
| 5100 | Subcontractors | incoming invoices from freelancers and partners |
| 5200 | Licences for projects | incoming invoices, project-related |
| 5300 | Hardware and material | incoming invoices, cost element Material |
6000 Personnel costs (group: Costs)
| No. | Cost category | Typical source |
|---|
| 6100 | Internal personnel costs | time bookings on internal projects |
| 6200 | External personnel costs | time bookings on customer projects |
| 6500 | Salaries (from financial accounting) | general posting, e.g. for the salary cost centre |
| 6510 | Employer’s social security contributions | general posting |
| 6520 | Benefits (company pension, mobility) | general posting |
6100 and 6200 separate the valued hours into internal and customer projects. 6500 to 6520 are the real salary costs as they come from payroll.
7000 Material costs (group: Costs)
| No. | Cost category | Typical source |
|---|
| 7100 | Premises costs / rent | general posting, incoming invoice |
| 7200 | Travel costs | cost elements (expenses, travel costs) |
| 7300 | Advertising and trade fairs | incoming invoices |
| 7400 | IT and software (internal) | incoming invoices |
| 7500 | Commissions | cost elements |
| 7600 | Office, telephone, postage | incoming invoices |
| 7700 | Insurance, contributions | general posting, spread monthly |
| 7900 | Other material costs | everything else |
8000 Imputed costs (group: Costs)
| No. | Cost category | Typical source |
|---|
| 8100 | Imputed entrepreneur’s salary | general posting, monthly |
| 8200 | Imputed interest | general posting, monthly |
| 8300 | Imputed depreciation | general posting, monthly |
| 8400 | Imputed risks | general posting |
Class 8000 only exists in cost accounting, never in financial accounting. Why is explained in Cost, expense, expenditure.
9000 Secondary costs (group: Secondary)
| No. | Cost category | What for |
|---|
| 9100 | Internal charge personnel | internal charging of personnel |
| 9200 | Reposting | manual repostings (see Repost an amount) |
| 9300 | Allocation sales | allocation of the service cost centre sales |
| 9310 | Allocation administration | allocation of the service cost centre administration |
| 9320 | Allocation IT | allocation of the service cost centre IT |
| 9330 | Allocation management | allocation of the service cost centre management |
| 9390 | Allocation personnel remainder | remainder of the salary cost centre (see Salary cost centre) |
| 9400 | Internal charge mark-up (margin) | manual margin reposting between departments |
A separate secondary cost category for each allocation: then you can see straight away in the movements where an amount comes from. For a new pool, such as a server pool, you add e.g. 9340 Allocation servers.
Notes
- Do not forget the group. The group (
Revenue, Costs, Secondary) separates primary from secondary postings in the evaluations.
- Numbers can be chosen freely. The numbers are a proposal. If you already use a chart of accounts, adopt its logic.
- Start small. To get started, 4100, 5100, 6100, 6200, 7100, 7200, 9200 and one allocation cost category per service cost centre are often enough.
