Production Accountant
The Production Accountant is the senior accounting role on a production — the person who keeps the books day-to-day from prep through wrap. Per the SI Competency Framework this is a Level 5 — Leadership / HoD role: the head of the Accounts department. Distinct from the external accountancy firm engaged later to prepare the final claim (see S481 final claim — engaging an external accountancy firm).
Department structure (per SI Competency Framework)
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Production Accountant | Owns the production books. Reports to the Producer / Line Producer. |
| 1st Assistant Accountant | Day-to-day transactions, supplier payments, cost reports. |
| Assistant Accountant Payroll Specialist | Crew + cast payroll, PAYE returns. |
| 2nd Assistant Accountant | Petty cash, expenses, accruals. |
| Cashier | Petty cash float, supplier coffee runs to bank. |
| Accounts Trainee | Filing, scanning, helping across the team. |
What the Production Accountant owns
- The cost report (per period through production + post)
- Crew + cast payroll
- Petty cash + per-diem cycles
- Supplier onboarding + payment
- Cashflow management against funder drawdown schedule
- Variance analysis vs budget
- Hand-off of the production books to the S481 final claim — engaging an external accountancy firm external firm at wrap
Cross-company
Production Accountants frequently work freelance across several producer-clients. A typical experienced PA may carry 2-3 productions simultaneously at different companies, with a regular schedule of cost-report publish dates across all of them.
In Togra
Togra's Production Accountant hub at /production-accountant-hub.php aggregates every production the user is named on across every group they belong to. Per-card metrics: spend vs budget variance, age of last published cost report, FCS state, overdue drawdowns, pending supplier onboardings.
Related
Sources
- · SI Competency Framework · Accounts Department booklet