University of Tasmania, Australia

Budget Preparation Costing Tool:-

UTAS Research Costing Tool (Windows & Apple Mac) (Excel 272.3KB)

UTAS Research Costing Tool Guide (PDF 920.2KB)

The above tool will assist researchers in calculating project costs. When downloading the costing tool please first save the Excel file to your computer and open from there - Excel Macros should then be enabled. If you do not save the tool first, the tool will not operate correctly.

Budget Preparation Advice:-

Consider very carefully what is required when putting together a budget request for a funding application. There are two general areas in a budget:

1. Direct costs which are directly attributable to a research project
2. Indirect costs which institutions incur in supporting research, but which cannot be directly attributed to individual research projects.

If there is no set format for the application, consider grouping your costs under 3 headings:

1. Direct Labour costs
2. • These are personnel costs (including relief from teaching) which include salary on-costs (salary on-costs covers superannuation, payroll tax, workers compensation, etc.)
3. Direct Operating costs (i.e. non-labour project costs), such as:
   • Travel
   • Consumables
   • Equipment hire (including Central Science Laboratory costings)
   • Other
4. Indirect costs
   • For Category 1 Australian Competitive Grants (ACG) there are no charges for Indirect costs. For grants that do not appear on the ACG Register, Indirect Costs are applicable. Please refer to the Indirect Cost policy.
   • Please refer to the Australian Competitive Grant Register (ACGR) to confirm if the Funding Body is exempt from Indirect Cost charges

This table is a summary of how the tool calculates indirect costs.