Sales Invoicing – Production Financing
The Producers will advise the Production Accountant what sources of funding are, or will be, in place and what the individual financing contracts specify in terms of payments to be received and the dates on which they fall due. Unless normal company procedures state otherwise, the accounts department should then raise sales invoices covering those payments and dates. The invoices should be checked and reviewed by a more senior third party. It should be ensured that they are received, and confirmed, by the funding source in time for them to be processed, and paid, by the relevant contract date. If that date is not met, senior management should be advised immediately as it may have a detrimental effect on cash flow.
The sales invoices should clearly indicate:
Customer name (funding party), full address and contact details (if appropriate).
A description of funding and reference to the contractual due date for payment.
Invoice date, invoice number and VAT number where applicable. Generally VAT, at the standard rate, will apply if invoicing UK to UK. However, if funding is from a non-UK source refer to section on Taxation ‘Sales from a UK company to a company abroad’ or alternatively consult HMRC for advice.
The sales invoice should also carry the company registration number of the production company and its registered address, both of which can be obtained from Companies House.
It is the responsibility of the Production Accountant to chase debtors and to make sure that the funds on the cashflow schedule are paid in on time.
Sales invoicing – miscellaneous other
If other sales invoices need to be issued (see section on Production Assets) they should take the same format as above apart from a change to the description line.
Where the accounting software is able to raise sales invoices then the appropriate entries will have been processed automatically as the invoice is raised. If this is not the case, a sales invoice must be manually posted onto the accounting system.
