Sector Specialism

Accountancy for Digital Media, Advertising & Film

Bookkeeping, VAT (including cross-border services), freelancer and crew payments, and accounts preparation for digital agencies, production companies, and creative studios. AAT Licensed Practice. Tier 3 and Tier 4 services.

Tier 3+4
AAT Licensed Practice
Project
Job-costed bookkeeping
VAT
Cross-border services
AAT
Qualified and licensed

Project-based businesses need bookkeeping that respects the project, not just the period

Digital media, advertising, and film production businesses run on projects, not products. Revenue is invoiced against milestones, costs land in lumps - talent, location, post-production - and clients pay on their own schedule. A monthly close built for a B2B services model produces management accounts that do not reflect what each project actually cost or made.

S.K.E. Accountancy works with media and production businesses on the bookkeeping, VAT, payroll, and accounts preparation that respects project economics. The practice has direct prior experience in the digital media and production sector and treats job-level cost tracking as routine.

Working as an AAT Licensed Practice means we stay strictly inside the services we are licensed to provide. Creative Industry Tax Relief (CITR) claims, R&D claims, and corporation tax computations are tax services outside our current licence - we will refer you to an appropriately licensed firm and provide the financial substrate the claim sits on.

Where digital media, advertising and film businesses need bookkeeping that does the job - not just transactions

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Project / Job-Costed Bookkeeping

Bookkeeping structured at project level - labour, freelancers, materials, and external costs all coded to the right job. Per-project profitability visible in the same ledger that produces VAT and statutory accounts.

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Freelancer & Crew Payments

Crew, performers, voiceover talent, and freelance creatives paid correctly. Where engagement constitutes employment for tax purposes, payroll runs. Where genuinely self-employed, invoicing and VAT are handled at point of payment.

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Cross-Border VAT & Services

VAT treatment of B2B and B2C services across borders - reverse charge, place of supply, and EU/non-EU rules applied at the point of invoicing, not corrected at year-end.

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Production WIP & Budget Tracking

Work-in-progress tracked per production, with budget vs actual visible weekly. Overruns spotted while there is still time to act, not at year-end when the damage is locked in.

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Multi-Currency Bookkeeping

International talent, overseas filming, and foreign-currency invoicing handled with the right currency treatment in the ledger. Year-end foreign exchange position is reconciled, not estimated.

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Statutory Accounts & SPV Bookkeeping

Where productions are run through SPVs (special-purpose vehicles), each SPV’s bookkeeping and statutory accounts are prepared separately, ready for the parent’s consolidation and the tax adviser’s CITR claim.

Bookkeeping & accounts - full service within Tier 3 + Tier 4 scope

One AAT Licensed Practice covers the bookkeeping, VAT, payroll, and accounts preparation that a digital media, advertising and film business needs day to day - without straying outside our licence.

  • Project / job-costed bookkeeping on cloud accounting software
  • VAT registration and quarterly returns (incl. cross-border services)
  • Payroll for studio/agency staff and PAYE-eligible crew
  • Freelancer payment records and self-employment vs employment tests
  • Multi-currency bookkeeping and forex reconciliation
  • Per-production / per-project management accounts
  • Statutory accounts for agency, studio, or production SPV
  • Companies House filings

Media and production businesses

Whether you are an advertising agency, a digital production studio, a film or television production company, an animation studio, or a small independent producer running productions through SPVs, the bookkeeping and accounts disciplines align - project economics, freelancer payments, and statutory accounts at year-end.

  • Advertising agencies and creative studios
  • Digital content and post-production businesses
  • Film, HETV, and animation production companies
  • Independent producers and SPVs
  • Video games and interactive studios (bookkeeping side)
  • Live event, theatre, and orchestra producers

Digital Media, Advertising & Film - frequently asked

Do you prepare Creative Industry Tax Relief (CITR) claims?

Not currently. CITR sits within corporation tax, which is a Tier 2 service outside our AAT licence. What we do is maintain qualifying expenditure records, project bookkeeping, and SPV statutory accounts in a form that your CITR-specialist tax adviser can use to prepare the claim.

How do you handle revenue on long-running projects?

We recognise revenue against milestones, deliverables, or percentage of completion as appropriate - documented per your client engagement so the basis is defensible. Management accounts reflect work delivered, not just cash collected, which matters for project businesses billing in advance or arrears.

Are my freelancers self-employed or should they be on payroll?

We apply the standard HMRC employment-status tests case by case (control, substitution, mutuality of obligation, equipment, integration). Genuine self-employment is treated as invoicing; where the tests point to employment, payroll runs. The off-payroll regime adds further considerations for PSC engagements.

Can you handle multi-currency bookkeeping?

Yes. Cloud accounting platforms handle multi-currency natively, and we reconcile the forex position at month-end so the year-end accounts are clean. Cross-border VAT is treated correctly at point of invoicing.

Can you take over from my current accountant mid-year?

Yes. We obtain professional clearance, take over project ledgers and SPV records, and pick up VAT and management accounts from the next period.

For general accountancy questions, see our main FAQ or browse the full Q&A library.

Project-fluent media bookkeeping & accounts. Within AAT scope.

Book a free 30-minute discovery call. We will review your project accounting and VAT position and give you a fixed monthly fee.

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