Staff expenses are expenses that directly benefit DTU employees and support a good working environment and employee well‑being.
Staff and representation expenses
Before you incur staff or representation expenses, it is important to be familiar with the overall framework. DTU has clear rules defining when such expenses are permitted, who is authorised to approve them, and how they must be documented.
Before you incur staff or representation expenses, it is important to be familiar with the overall framework. DTU has clear rules defining when such expenses are permitted, who is authorised to approve them, and how they must be documented.
Management responsibility and approval
When incurring staff or representation expenses, there must always be a business‑related purpose and an independent interest for DTU. The expenses must be reasonable in relation to both the occasion and the group of participants.
As a manager, you are responsible for ensuring that expenses comply with DTU's guidelines:
- Only employees with managerial responsibility may decide to incur staff or representation expenses.
- The voucher must always be approved by the budget owner. The budget owner may delegate approval to another employee, but no more than one management level down. See also section 5.3 on approval in the Accounting Guidelines.
- If you, as the approver, participate in the event yourself, the expense must be agreed with your immediate manager in advance. Your manager must also approve the voucher afterwards – unless the expense only concerns catering at the level of DTU's fixed canteen supplier.
- For members of the Executive Board and Heads of Department, approval may be carried out by an employee familiar with the transaction, cf. section 4.2 of the Accounting Guidelines.
Please note that representation expenses of a significant scope or of an extraordinary nature may not be incurred without specific authorisation, either through the Finance Act or separate submission to the Finance Committee, cf. section 2.4.14 of the Ministry of Finance's Budget Guidelines 2021.
Below you will find definitions of and examples of staff expenses and representation expenses. Expand the sections to easily determine which category your expense belongs to.
Contact
Gitte Hurup Finance and Accounting ghhe@adm.dtu.dk
Examples of staff expenses include:
- Expenses related to receptions
- Catering in connection with internal meetings and courses
- Staff seminars and team events
- Summer parties
- Christmas events
- Other activities that support employee well‑being and competence development
The rules apply regardless of how the expenses are financed (ordinary funds, commercially funded activities, or grant‑funded activities).
Representation expenses are expenses directed at individuals outside DTU, where the purpose is to conclude, maintain or establish a collaboration.
These are expenses characterised by attention or business hospitality, where the majority of participants are not DTU employees.
Examples of representation expenses include:
- Catering in connection with meetings with external partners
- Expenses for activities or events involving external parties
- Gifts to external parties
DTU's policy is that representation expenses should be limited in scope.
There must also be a reasonable balance between the number of external partners and DTU employees participating in representation events.