Service contract and contract for work
Under a German service contract (Dienstvertrag) the contractor owes an activity; under a contract for work (Werkvertrag) a defined result. The distinction governs payment, warranty and acceptance — and which form fits an interim mandate.
The difference in one sentence
A service contract owes the effort, a contract for work owes the outcome. Running a finance department for six months is an activity: nobody can guarantee the company is profitable at the end. Building a financial model is a result: a finished, working model.
Legal consequences compared
Payment. Under a service contract the claim arises as the services are performed, usually billed by time. Under a contract for work payment follows acceptance of the work, usually as a fixed price.
Acceptance. The contract for work turns on acceptance under section 640 of the German Civil Code: risk passes, the limitation period for defect claims begins, and payment falls due. A service contract has no acceptance.
Warranty. A contract for work carries defect rights — subsequent performance, self-remedy, price reduction, withdrawal, damages. A service contract carries no warranty for a result; liability arises from breaches of duty in performing the service.
Termination. Service contracts are terminated by notice; the customer may terminate a contract for work at any time under section 648 of the German Civil Code, while remaining liable for the agreed fee less saved expenses.
Which form fits interim management
Interim mandates are almost always service contracts, and for a substantive reason: a leadership role cannot be described as a work product. An interim CFO takes responsibility for an area whose outcome depends on factors they do not control alone.
Contracts for work fit clearly delimited deliverables inside a mandate: an integrated financial model, a reporting package, a financial due diligence, a migration to a new accounting system. In practice both are combined — ongoing leadership under a service contract, defined side projects as work.
What belongs in the contract
Whichever form: scope and its boundaries, what is expressly not included, the payment model and billing cycle, treatment of travel time and expenses, notice periods for both sides, confidentiality and data protection, rights to work product, and an agreement on documentation and handover at the end of the mandate.
Above all, the contract must describe what actually happens. A service contract describing independent work, while the person in fact works under instructions in the line, offers no protection against false self-employment. Where the role does not fit self-employment, temporary agency work is the fitting construction.
This is general information, not legal advice.