Film, TV and production accounting
Accountants for film and TV production in Glasgow.
Specialist production company accounting for Glasgow — ACCA-regulated, fixed-fee, with a named accountant on direct contact.
Countify for Glasgow production companys
Local context
that actually matters.
Glasgow is Scotland's production centre, and the concentration is real: BBC Scotland and STV at Pacific Quay, the Kelvin Hall and BBC Studioworks facilities, and the Glasgow studio capacity that has drawn recurring international productions using the city's grid as a stand-in for North American locations. That mix creates two distinct client types with different accounting needs — long-running broadcast series with continuous production and repeatable cost reporting, and inbound feature productions running a short, intense SPV lifecycle with a completion bond and a hard delivery date. Glasgow's freelance crew base is large enough that productions engage the same crew repeatedly across different SPVs, which is precisely the pattern that makes employment status and off-payroll determinations worth documenting properly rather than repeating an assumption from the last job.
Sector context
What production company accounting actually involves.
Production accounting is project accounting, and it does not fit a standard year-end model. Each production is typically a special purpose vehicle with its own budget, cost report and financing stack, and the tax relief that makes the numbers work — Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit, which replaced the old film and high-end TV tax reliefs — is claimed against qualifying UK expenditure that has to be tracked from the first day of pre-production, not reconstructed afterwards. Add freelance crew engaged across PAYE, self-employment and loan-out companies with real IR35 exposure, plus completion bond and financier reporting on their own timetable, and the compliance load is front-loaded and unforgiving. Countify sets up the SPV and cost-reporting structure, tracks qualifying spend as it happens, and keeps crew engagement status defensible.
How we help Glasgow production companys
Film and TV production-specific scope, fixed fees.
Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit claims
Qualifying UK expenditure identified and evidenced from pre-production onward, with the claim prepared alongside the company return rather than bolted on later.
SPV setup and production cost reporting
Per-production companies structured properly, with cost reports in the format financiers, broadcasters and completion bonders actually require.
Crew engagement status and IR35
PAYE, self-employed and loan-out crew assessed against the off-payroll rules before the shoot, not after an HMRC review.
Grant, co-production and financier reporting
Screen Scotland and other public funding treated correctly against qualifying spend, with reporting aligned to each funder's timetable.
Run the numbers
Calculators built for production companys.
IR35 Inside vs Outside Calculator
Inside vs outside IR35 take-home for limited-company contractors.
Corporation Tax Estimator
Estimate CT600 with marginal relief between £50k and £250k profit.
Employer PAYE Calculator
True cost of employment: employer NI at 15%, auto-enrolment pension, monthly breakdown.
Questions we hear weekly
Film and TV production FAQs.
What replaced film and high-end TV tax relief?
The Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit (AVEC) replaced the previous film, high-end TV, animation and children's TV reliefs. It is an expenditure credit calculated on qualifying UK expenditure, and it is claimed through the production company's corporation tax return.
Should each production have its own company?
Usually yes. A special purpose vehicle per production keeps qualifying expenditure, financing and profit participation ring-fenced, which is what financiers, completion bonders and the expenditure credit rules all expect. Running several productions through one company makes the claim materially harder to evidence.
How should freelance crew be engaged?
It depends on the role and the working arrangements. Some grades are genuinely self-employed, many are not, and crew working through their own loan-out companies bring the off-payroll rules into play. The determination should be made and documented before the shoot, because correcting it afterwards means settling PAYE and NIC the production has already spent.
When can qualifying expenditure start being tracked?
From the start of pre-production, and in some cases from development. Because the credit is calculated on qualifying UK spend, expenditure that is not properly coded and evidenced as it happens is the most common reason claims come in below what the production was entitled to.
How is Screen Scotland funding treated in the accounts?
It depends on the nature of the award and its conditions. Grants may be recognised against the expenditure they fund rather than as revenue, and the interaction with qualifying expenditure for the expenditure credit needs checking so the same spend is not double-counted.
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