Cost and performance accounting shows which costs arise where and for what.

In teamspace, four types of elements can reflect positive or negative monetary impact: financial items, time entries, cost items and bookings. All four have been extended to allow flexible, rule-based assignment of cost type, cost centre and cost object.

CPA information can be reviewed and edited directly when creating such an element, with the right permissions. Where possible, the assignments are pre-filled automatically. To do so, the system queries different sources in a fixed order, configurable per element type.

As an example, consider the following configuration for cost items:

• Cost type: 1. Expense type
• Cost object: 1. Project
• Cost centre: 1. Employee, 2. Customer

The cost type follows the type of expense (material, travel, etc.). The cost object is the customer project. The cost centre falls back through the employee first, then the customer if the employee has no fixed cost centre.

The new rule-based mechanism makes CPA much easier. Costs are assigned more precisely with little effort. Analysis improves: in various lists (e.g. project times) cost type, cost centre and cost object can be shown as columns and used for filters. Cost drivers and especially profitable products are easy to spot.

teamspace does not support internal allocation in the sense of distributing cost centres via secondary costs. Distribution of overhead is not supported either. teamspace gives an overview of the assignment of primary cost to cost type, cost centre and cost object.

CPA aims to identify costs in the company and assign them to their originator. It serves a controlling purpose: internal processes can be reviewed and optimised for economic efficiency.

CPA uses three core dimensions:

• Cost types categorise costs (e.g. material, personnel).
• Cost centres designate the area or department where the cost arose (e.g. production, service, marketing).
• Cost objects are the products or services to which the cost is attributed (e.g. manufacturing, installation, maintenance).

Based on these elements, CPA runs through three stages:

• Cost type accounting: Which costs have occurred? Costs are identified and assigned to a cost type. Possible groupings: by production factor (material, staff) or by business function (procurement, manufacturing, sales). Direct costs (allocatable to a cost object) flow into cost object accounting. Indirect costs (overhead) are first treated in cost centre accounting.
• Cost centre accounting: Where did the costs arise? Overheads are distributed across cost centres according to an internal key. Typically these correspond to company departments. A distinction is made between main and auxiliary cost centres — main cost centres are directly involved in value creation, auxiliary cost centres deliver preliminary services to other cost centres.
• Cost object accounting: Why did the costs arise? Direct and indirect costs are then attributed to the cost objects. Two calculation methods apply: unit cost accounting calculates cost per unit; period cost accounting looks at all cost in a time period, which can then be compared to revenue to determine operating result.

The resulting cost distribution allows conclusions about the efficiency of the value creation, reveals savings potential and assesses product profitability.

• E-invoicing (ZUGFeRD and XRechnung)
• Dunning
• Order billing
• DATEV export
• Billing software