Production Accounting

Financial Services

What We Can Do For You

What we can do for you We offer full production accounting services, including residuals, to ensure financial stability and profitability throughout your film and TV project.

Our experienced team provides accounting services for any production budget in the film and TV industry both on-site or remotely. We take control of your books so you can focus critical internal resources where they are needed most.

We will consolidate all financials to ensure a smooth transition at any stage of your film or TV production, which includes taking care of accounts payable, budgeting, payroll (for union or non-union workers), completion of bank reconciliations, preparation and presentation of cost reports, and more.

Residuals

Residuals payment obligations can be a big question mark on any production. The made-for market (theatrical, basic cable, SVOD, etc.) and sell-to market variables of each union carry vast implications for your overall residuals tab. When you license your film or show, you need to know how much you’ll owe in residuals over the years­—otherwise, how do you know you’re getting a good fee for the license?

The CFO Firm’s advanced residuals-payment forecasting system can generate an estimated schedule of payments before you sign a deal, so you know in advance how residuals are going to affect the bottom line of your film or TV show.

  • Online residuals payment history access and paperless reporting
  • Automatic system to process high-volume talent residuals payments

Residuals payment formulas vary by made-for market and sell-to market.

For SAG-AFTRA residuals as well as DGA and WGA, the formulas for calculating your payments vary. Some markets require residuals payments based on how many runs the product has (how many times it airs), while other markets’ residuals payments are based on revenue (how much you get paid for the license).

Our On-Site or Remote Production Accounting Services

  1. Pre-production accounting
    • Budgeting
    • Cash flow forecast
    • Funding consulting
  2. Production accounting
    • Bookkeeping/accounting
    • Cost reporting
    • Petty cash
    • Filing
  3. Post-production accounting
    • Final cost reporting
    • Project closeout
    • Audit preparation
  4. Residual payments
    • Forecasting
    • Payment processing

Payroll

Television and film productions require specialized payroll and accounting expertise. While there are many payroll providers for general staff-payment purposes, the CFO Firm offers entertainment payroll expertise specific to paying short-term crew members on a film, TV, or commercial production. Crew members must be paid on time in accordance with their union or non-union deal memos with the production, and the payments must be accurate with all the necessary deductions.

  • Direct deposits
  • Tax payments

We ensure all W-2s will be distributed in a timely manner at the end of the year, and tax filings and union contributions will be made properly. Not only that, but any workers’ compensation or unemployment claims from your film-crew workers will be managed by the CFO Firm, whether submitted now or in the future.