Having grown up in an environment of theatre, film and finance; the ingredients were always there for a great production accountant, I just didn't realise it was a job until later down the road.
My grandmother and father have been involved with the performing arts all their lives and we were all actively encouraged to take part too from an early age. For myself, it was behind the scenes that was most appealing. Throwing oranges from the rafters at the pantomime, freezing at the docks for a Johnny Depp classic and running up and down the BT Tower for GMTV's 'Get Up And Give' appeal, I've had a varied education in the world of production to sit alongside my formal accountancy qualifications.
Roles & Responsibilities
Financial Controller / Production Accountant - Aytak Ltd
Jan 2023 - current
Freelance Production Accountancy & Financial Control
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Production and corporate accountancy services for companies including, but not exhaustively; multi-currency reporting, co-productions, bonded films, insurance claims, on location and complete production financial control.
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Full production set up including financial closing packs with cashflows, first day payments lists, drawdown schedules, finance plans and financier's cashflows.
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Sole accountant up to £2.5m budget, sourcing and leading a team for budgets in excess of £2.5m.
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Cast payroll in line with the Pact/Equity agreement, registering pensions and withholding and reporting foreign entertainers tax.
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Crew payroll in line with the Pact/Bectu agreement, cutting timesheets, calculating salaries and overtime against contractual terms.
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Close relationships with Equals and Centtrip pre-loaded cash card and exchange companies.
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Currency requirement planning for complex financial structures.
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VAT, PAYE and pension registration and filing.
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Accounts payable control with PO systems and final supplier reconciliations.
Senior Client & Production Accountant - Entertainment Accounts Management London
Jul 2021 - Dec 2022
Film, media and entertainment specialist accounting practice
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Corporate accounting including statutory reporting; tax computations; film tax credits; full account reconciliations.
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Full production accounting for HETV and film including payroll; cost reporting; cashflows; drawdown requests; finance plans; bonded productions; insurance claims; budget reviews.
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Working closely with producers and line producers to bring films in on budget.
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Forecasting from actuals to estimate variances to help mitigate the usual and unexpected occurrences of production.
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Final departmental reconciliations as part of wrap reporting.
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Post production accountancy through to delivery and corporate reporting.
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Training junior staff in bookkeeping to TB level and VAT.
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Engaging new clients, managing existing clients.
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Team manager; allocating work, managing workflow and ensuring work/home-life balance.
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Use of Moneypenny, DPO, Team Engine, Quickbooks, FreeAgent, Xero, Excel, Moneysoft and Taxcalc softwares.
Production Accountant - Moonbug Entertainment
Apr 2021 - Jul 2021
Children’s content production company specialising in 3D animated educational content for the pre-school market including content for YouTube, Netflix and Amazon
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Trade creditors procedure overhauled and simplified.
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Weekly pay run processing.
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Helped to create cost tracking with variance analysis on cost reports.
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Bookkeeping including bank reconciliations; accounts payable management; journals; expenses.
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Production team guidance on accounts procedures..
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Animation and children’s TV tax credit processing.
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Use of Netsuite software.
Production Accountant - The Line Animation Studio
Dec 2020 - Mar 2021
Animation production company specialising in 2D animation for the commercial market
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Streamlined cost reporting procedure and reports.
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Integrated cost and payables tracking with variance analysis on cost reports.
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Complete bookkeeping including bank reconciliations; accounts payable management; raising sales invoices.
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Creation of management accounts procedure, expense tracking and staff tracking processes and reports.
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Maintenance of rolling forecasts and quarterly profit and loss reports.
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Animation tax credit BFI applications.
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VAT returns, bookkeeping and tax credit processing for SPV company.
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Use of Quickbooks software.
Production Accountant & Assistant Production Accountant - RDF Television
Production company specialising in entertainment, factual entertainment, documentaries, daytime and features
Oct 2019 - Dec 2020
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Reviewing cost managers and reports, liaising with the senior production team.
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Creating and updating cashflow forecasts for development and commissioned productions.
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Sense and technical checking budgets for production teams.
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Ensure the estimates to complete are itemised as appropriate and show true reflections of expected costs.
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Under/overspends fully explained and up to date.
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Reporting regional expenditure to program commissioners.
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Attending production start up meetings and advising on financial control and compliance.
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Providing support to production managers and production executives in completing cost reports.
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Supporting new/junior production managers with cost monitoring and accounting procedures.
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Monthly freezing of variance reports and commentary on cost managers.
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Maintenance and posting internal recoveries.
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Cross checking and reconciling expenses, petty cash and credit card postings to productions.
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Managing production floats and advances in multi currencies.
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Checking and finalising payroll and reconciling related control accounts.
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Updating month end turnover reports for specific productions.
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Organising freelancer payments in line with HMRC regulations.
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Reviewing payroll files ready for monthly PAYE payments.
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Reconciling bank, petty cash and float accounts.
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Assisting with audit queries.
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Use of PMI software.
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Assisting management accountant with month end processes.
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Managing supplier inbox and accounts payable function in lieu of furloughed staff.
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Helping organise production insurance claims.
Client & Production Accounting Manager - EAM London Ltd
Nov 2016 - Oct 2019
Film, media and entertainment specialist accounting practice
Production Accounting:
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Setting up SPV companies with Companies House and HMRC.
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Creating portals for shared documentation needed for cash forecasting and setting up the templates needed during production.
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Reviewing budgets with production teams and making recommendations for finalisation.
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Generating cashflow forecasts based on schedules, contracts, funding and tax obligations.
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Processing supplier invoices, expenses and petty cash and reconciling against floats and purchase orders.
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Managing cashflow as the production progresses; reviewing payment schedules and terms.
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Monitoring expenditure to limit deviation from budget and cash flow forecasts and flag problems if they arise.
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Review and execute payment runs for freelance suppliers and payroll employees.
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Liaise with production accountants working on the film set to make sure information is accurate and in line with coding and budget.
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Holding meetings with producers and line managers to ensure accuracy of the accounts and correct allocations.
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Discussing estimates to complete and variance analysis with production team.
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Ensuring withholding tax for foreign entertainers is appropriately dealt with with HMRC.
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Filing of VAT returns in timely manner and complying with HMRC for inspections.
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Reference HMRC guidelines for treatments for tax and PAYE to ensure compliance at all times.
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Analysing the cost reports to help enable production managers to make informed decisions.
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Mapping cost reports to preferred accounting software.
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Inputting realistic accruals and year end adjustments for the statutory accounts.
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Calculate the creative tax credit claim based on opinion letters, discussions with production managers and analysis of the general ledgers.
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Finalise statutory accounts and corporation tax returns in conjunction with creative tax credit calculations and BFI certificates.
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Collaborate with external accountants and create audit packs for the final audits of the production.
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Consolidate projects and cost managers to meet corporate accounting needs.
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Manage accounts for multiple types of productions with budgets from £60k - £4m; including films and documentaries.
Corporate Accounting:
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Bookkeeping to trial balance level; reconciling balance sheet accounts, managing billing, liquidity reporting, data entry, processing inter-company transactions, multi currency experience; processing supplier payments and payroll.
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Statutory accounts and corporation tax returns for SMEs; producing schedules, entering journals, drafting accounts.
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Management accounting; monthly & quarterly for high turnover small-medium sized businesses.
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Budget planning; creating budgets based on actual data and profit targets.
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Solid experience in multi project structured companies and configuring accounts to group format.
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Managing a team of accounts assistants; allocation of workloads, reviewing work, bookkeeping training.
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Working with a variety of types of clients; actors, agencies, producers, media specialists, directors, editors, sports agencies, production companies.
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Use of multiple accounting software on a daily basis; Sage 50, Sage Instant, Quickbooks (desktop and online), Xero, Clear Books, Taxcalc, Agent File, Microsoft Office suite.
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Client liaison and problem solving; tidying accounts from external sources, analysis reports as per client requests, assisting with tax and accounting queries.
Accounts Assistant / Legal Cashier – Kennard Wells Solicitors
Jan 2014 – Nov 2016
Solicitors specialising in conveyancing, probate and family law
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Accounts receivable; allocating receipts, banking and managing electronic receipts.
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Accounts payable; payment schedules, BACS/TT transfers, printing cheques, managing supplier accounts and invoices.
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Reconciling all office and client bank accounts on a regular basis.
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Month End Reporting; accounting, billing, purchase ledger, VAT and bank reconciliations.
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Controlling the petty cash; making payments out, maintaining the imprest levels, posting balances to the purchase ledger.
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Managing client accounts; opening new matters, liaising with fee earners on outstanding balances and problems, archiving completed matters.
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Ad Hoc duties; reconciling probate accounts, general queries, completing journals, transfers and billing.
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Posting Legal Aid receipts, bills, telegraphic transfer receipts and cash receipts.
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Time recording; inputting details of fee earners minutes on to computer system ready for billing.
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Using Quill legal account software to facilitate my work in accounts.
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Being the first point of contact for clients on the phone and in person.
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Overseeing the reception; sorting the mail incoming and outgoing, handling the switchboard and booking appointments for fee earners.
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Maintaining the records for deeds, wills and archived files, storage of files and organising all storage facilities.