Delegation provisions for grant holders and selected authorised employees

Managers exercise financial decision-making authority on the condition that a budget has been delegated to them and that the expense can be incurred within the approved budget. Decision-making authority for each level of management is expressed in terms of approval limits for each level. Financial decision-making authority applies to purchasing decisions that involve a binding purchase or binding agreement for multiple purchases from the same supplier.

Financial transactions outside the approved budget can only be carried out after prior approval by the level of management immediately above. Decision-making authority applies to all financial transactions, regardless of whether they are made with AU’s institutional funding or with funds from an external grant.

The minimum thresholds

Level-three managers can set a de minimus threshold for one-time transactions of up to DKK 2,000 for all employees or a group of selected employees at their own department/school (institut).

Transactions that impact costs for one financial year (in DKK excluding VAT)

The following relates to grant holders with externally funded projects

• One-time transactions (including transactions related to building operations, including maintenance, furnishing and renovation).
  • One-time purchases that do not fall under the categories in the following columns: Under 300,000.

Annual transactions that impact costs over several financial years

• Capital expenditure
  • External grants: Under 500,000 can be delegated to this level by immediate superior.
  • AU institutional funding: From and including 15,000,000.
• Contracts
  • Ongoing contracts for maintenance, licences, services and operating leases with non-cancellable periods of over 12 months: In connection with external grants only: under 300,000.

The following relates to employees who are authorised to make purchases for specific tasks by managers on levels 1-5, for example purchasing office supplies or transactions in connection with the execution of projects (research projects, IT projects, construction projects).

• One-time transactions (including transactions related to building operations, including maintenance, furnishing and renovation).
  • One-time purchases that do not fall under the categories in the following columns: 

    • Project managers, IT: Under 300,000. 

    • Project managers, construction projects: Under 300,000. 

    • Other selected authorised employees: Under 50,000.

This only applies to collaboration agreements for existing degree programmes, as the process for the approval of new degree programmes is different. Examples include agreements with other institutions in Denmark (degree programme collaboration, commissioned teaching and the like) and with foreign universities (exchange agreements, Erasmus+ projects and the like).

Note the following: 

• that the individual managers/employees are responsible for ensuring the legal validity of the agreements.
• that the delegation provisions on financial management also apply in regard to signing sub-agreements dealing with the financial aspects of collaboration agreements.

Decision-making authority

The following relates to employees who are delegated decision-making and signing authority for specific tasks, such as exchange agreements, by managers on levels 1-3

Decision-making and signing authority to negotiate and approve collaboration agreements on existing degree programmes to a specified extent can be delegated from managers on levels 1-3.