Three productions each send in their monthly cost report. One shows a healthy margin, one is quietly over budget on post-production, and one has not been paid by its broadcaster yet. The financial controller puts the three side by side with the company's own costs and sees that payroll in six weeks will be tight. That warning reaches the managing director before anyone else notices. The financial controller looks after the money of the company itself, not of a single production.
What a financial controller does
Each production usually has its own bank account and its own production accountant, who records every cost on that show. The financial controller works one level up, in the company's permanent finance team. They run the company accounts, pay the overheads, manage cash between productions, and turn the reports from each production into monthly figures for the managing director and the owners.
They also handle the financial work that comes at the end of a production. Examples are the final cost statement, an audit of the production accounts when a financier or fund asks for one, and the paperwork for any film incentive or tax credit the production claims.
Responsibilities
- Keep the company's own books, overheads and payroll for permanent staff
- Forecast cash flow across all productions and the company
- Consolidate production cost reports into company reporting
- Set up bank accounts, cost codes and financial processes for new productions
- Support the production accountants and check their figures
- Prepare final cost statements and coordinate audits
- Handle tax, VAT and incentive claims with external advisers
How the role touches the budget
Directly, but from a company view. The financial controller does not write the production budget, but they check that it contains the right production fee and overhead, and that its payment schedule fits the company's cash. During the shoot they follow the forecast on each production, and at the end they close the books and confirm what each show really cost. When several productions run at once, they are often the only person who sees the total.
How people become financial controllers
Most are qualified accountants. Some start in general finance and move into media, while others begin as production accountants or assistants and later take on the company-wide role. Knowing how a production budget, a cost report and an incentive claim work is what sets a media financial controller apart.
In TV and commercials
In TV companies the controller often manages money from several sources on one series, such as a broadcaster licence fee, a distributor advance and an incentive. In commercials production companies the focus is on the margin per job, because each job is a fixed-price quote. The controller compares quoted and actual costs on every job and tracks when the advertising agency pays.