QuickBooks Online can track a production’s budget, commitments and cost-to-date, and still give your CPA real financial statements at the end. I’ve set up QuickBooks for indie features, documentaries, commercials, music videos and short-form projects for more than 20 years. This guide walks through the setup I use, step by step.
Is QuickBooks Online the right tool for your production?
For most independent productions, yes. QuickBooks Online handles budgets of a few hundred line items, crew and vendor payments, petty cash and payroll entries well.
Large union features with many departments usually run on dedicated production accounting software through a production payroll company. Even then, many producers keep the company’s overall books in QuickBooks.
One thing to know up front: QuickBooks won’t work exactly like your budgeting software. It’s built to run a whole business. Set up the right way, though, it mirrors your budget’s account numbers and shows you budget vs. actual at any point in the shoot.
Step 1: Decide whether you own the film or it’s a work for hire
This one question shapes the whole setup, so answer it before you create a single account.
You own the finished film. This is typical when an LLC or partnership is formed to make one picture. The film is an asset of whoever owns it. Your goal is tracking the cost of making it, not monthly profit. Here, the budget itself becomes your chart of accounts (Step 2).
It’s a work for hire. You’re producing for a client, a network or a brand, and you don’t own the result. Commercials, music videos and branded content usually fall here. The production costs are direct costs of the job (Cost of Goods Sold). Keep normal overhead accounts for rent, insurance and office costs. Put the detailed budget in your Products & Services list instead (Step 3), and track each job as a separate Project.
Production companies that make several projects a year often have both kinds. Your CPA should confirm the tax treatment for each production before you set it up.
Step 2: Build your chart of accounts from the budget
If the company exists to make one film, set up your budget lines as expense accounts in the chart of accounts. Your reports then read just like your budget.
- Number everything. If your budget lines aren’t numbered, add a 3- or 4-digit scheme first. Then turn on account numbers in QuickBooks Online: Settings, then Account and settings, then Advanced, then Chart of accounts. Without numbers, QuickBooks Online sorts accounts alphabetically and your reports won’t follow the budget.
- Import from Excel instead of typing. Export the budget from your budgeting software to Excel. Clean it up into columns for account number, account name and account type, then import it into the chart of accounts.
- Make categories parents and detail lines sub-accounts. Each budget category (for example, 2000 Production Staff) is a parent account. Each detail line under it is a sub-account, so totals roll up the way your budget does.
- Record funding as equity or loans, not sales. Investor money, member contributions and loans go to balance sheet accounts such as Production Funding. Add a sub-account for each source if several parties are contributing.
- Clean out the defaults. Make QuickBooks’ default expense accounts that you won’t use inactive so they don’t clutter your reports.
Watch the account limit. Simple Start, Essentials and Plus allow 250 active accounts in total. A detailed feature budget can go past that. If yours does, keep category-level accounts in the chart and put the detail lines in Products & Services (Step 3), or move to QuickBooks Online Advanced, which has no limit.
Step 3: Set up Products & Services to match your budget lines
If you want purchase orders, or you’re tracking a work-for-hire job, set up your budget lines as service items in the Products & Services list.
- Name each item with its budget number and description, for example “2105 Camera Operator.”
- Check “I purchase this product/service from a vendor” and choose the expense or Cost of Goods Sold account the item should post to. QuickBooks only lets you put items marked this way on a purchase order.
- Like the chart of accounts, this list can be imported from Excel.
Once your budget is set up in a QuickBooks file, export both lists and save them. You can import them into the next production’s file in minutes.
Step 4: Enter the budget
On QuickBooks Online Plus or Advanced, enter your budget totals in the Budgeting tool. Then run the Budget vs. Actuals report for cost-to-date and variance by line.
QuickBooks budgets are laid out by month across a fiscal year. You can enter each line’s total in the month the money will be spent, or spread it across your prep, shoot and post schedule.
On Advanced, you can also add a cost estimate to a Project and run the Estimates vs. actuals report. This works well for work-for-hire jobs, where you track several productions in one file.
Step 5: Issue purchase orders, then enter bills against them
Purchase orders let you see what you’ve committed to spend before the invoices arrive. They’re available on Plus and Advanced. Turn them on in Settings, then Account and settings, then Expenses.
- Enter a PO for each crew deal, rental or vendor commitment. For weekly payments, put each week on its own line so you can see what’s paid and what’s still owed.
- Enter the vendor’s invoice as a bill and add the PO to it. QuickBooks closes the lines you’ve billed and leaves the rest open.
- Pay the bill by check printed from QuickBooks, by bill pay or by wire. If you’re entering a production after the fact, record the payment against the bill the way it was actually paid.
- Watch your commitments. The Open Purchase Order Detail report shows everything you’ve promised but not yet been billed for.
Printing checks from QuickBooks posts them to your actuals as you go. It saves data entry and makes reconciling much faster.
Step 6: Handle credit cards and petty cash correctly
Credit cards. Anything paid by credit card is entered as an expense from the credit card account, not as a bill. It’s often easiest to match these from the bank feed. Paying the card later is a transfer from the bank to the card, not a second expense.
Petty cash. Create a Petty Cash bank account with a sub-account for each person who gets a float. That way you can see what’s outstanding at any time.
- Issuing a float is a transfer or check from the production bank account into that person’s petty cash account.
- Each envelope is entered as an expense from their petty cash account, with the envelope number as the reference number. Split it across as many budget lines as the receipts cover.
- When they replenish or close out, the petty cash balance should equal the cash they hand back.
Step 7: Record payroll from your payroll company’s reports
Most production payroll companies can give you a payroll journal coded to your budget accounts, or a file you can import. Give them your account numbers, then record each payroll run as a journal entry or import. Wages, fringes and payroll fees each go to their own budget lines.
Don’t skip reconciling
Reconcile every bank account, credit card and loan in QuickBooks each time a statement comes in. It’s the only way to know every transaction is recorded and every balance is right. Keystroke errors happen, and banks and vendors make mistakes too. On a production, a missed charge means your cost report is wrong.
Which QuickBooks Online plan do you need?
For most productions, Plus is the minimum, because it adds purchase orders and budgets.
| Feature | Simple Start | Essentials | Plus | Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chart of accounts | 250 | 250 | 250 | Unlimited |
| Purchase orders | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Budget vs. Actuals | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Project cost estimates vs. actuals | No | No | No | Yes |
| Classes and locations | None | None | 40 combined | Unlimited |
Intuit changes plans from time to time, so check the current plan details before you buy.
Want help setting up your production?
If you’d rather skip the setup, send me your budget in Excel. I’ll quote a price based on how many accounts and detail lines it has. I’ll then set up your chart of accounts and Products & Services list in QuickBooks Online, ready for you to start entering costs.
I also offer ongoing production bookkeeping, and QuickBooks training as a separate service. See Film Production Accounting for what I do for productions, or book a free call.
Frequently asked questions
Can QuickBooks Online replace production accounting software?
For many independent features, documentaries, commercials and music videos, yes. It tracks budget vs. actual, commitments, petty cash and payroll costs. Large union productions usually still use dedicated production accounting software, often alongside QuickBooks for the company’s overall books.
Which QuickBooks Online plan do I need for a film?
Plus at minimum, because purchase orders and budgets aren’t in Simple Start or Essentials. If your budget has more than about 250 lines, or you want project cost estimates vs. actuals, you’ll need Advanced, or you’ll need to keep detail lines in Products & Services.
Should production funding be recorded as income?
Usually not when you own the film. Investor money, member contributions and loans are recorded on the balance sheet, so your reports show the cost of the film instead of a profit or loss. Work-for-hire payments from a client are income. Confirm the treatment with your CPA.
Can you set up QuickBooks from my existing budget?
Yes. Export the budget from your budgeting software to Excel and send it to me. The account numbers and descriptions become your QuickBooks chart of accounts or Products & Services list, so your reports line up with the budget.