Finance: Hourly rates and audit requirements

Hourly rates – personnel costs and purchase of services

When budgeting for personnel costs and purchase of services, the following rules apply:

• Maximum hourly rate for personnel costs: NOK 1,100. The hourly rate must reflect the employee’s experience and salary.
• Full-time equivalent (FTE): A maximum of 1,695 hours per FTE is acceptable.
• Formula for calculating hourly rate:
  • Hourly rate [NOK/hour] = Annual salary [NOK/year] x 1,4 / 1,695 [hours/year]
  • The factor of 1,4 covers the total costs associated with employing staff in a business.
• Purchase of services: The hourly rate may exceed NOK 1,100. The rate must be specified in the budget.

Audit requirements

All projects must submit a project budget in the application and a project account in the final report. Audit requirements vary depending on the size of the grant:

• Grants up to NOK 350,000: no audit requirement.
• Grants over NOK 350,000 and up to NOK 1,000,000: a statement must be provided by a state-authorised auditor with “Agreed-Upon Procedures” in accordance with ISRS 4400.
• Grants over NOK 1,000,000: the project must submit an audit report from a state-authorised auditor for the project accounts in accordance with ISA 805 (Revised).

Audit costs must be covered by the project and therefore be included in the budget.

For further information, please see NREF’s Guidelines for project accounts and audit.

For Norwegian applicants: Do you need an auditor? Visit The Norwegian Institute of Public Accountants website to find a state-authorised auditor.