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VO Accounting

 
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Mike Paul
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Joined: 05 Oct 2021
Posts: 101
Location: Sacramento

PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2023 7:44 am    Post subject: VO Accounting Reply with quote

For those who have an accounting system in place (I'm using Freshbooks), wondering: what are some things that would be COGS related? Here are some things that may or may not be COGS, which I'd love your thoughts on so I can record the right categories to these expenses going forward.

    Talent fees
    Swipe fees from credit card payments
    Software
    Script preparation
    Editing and post-production
    Music and sound effects
    Marketing and advertising
    Insurance
    Office expenses
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Mike Paul
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Joined: 05 Oct 2021
Posts: 101
Location: Sacramento

PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2023 7:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Doing a little more homework, "COGS consists of direct costs that are directly related to the production of goods or services, such as the cost of materials or labor. Credit card swipe fees, on the other hand, are indirect expenses that are not directly tied to the production of a specific product or service. Instead, they are a general cost of doing business and are usually recorded as overhead rather than COGS."

... so maybe the Swipe Fees from the above list don't count because it didn't directly relate to the production of the voiceover. Freshbooks classifies these as Bank Fees, which I suppose could be useful for accounting purposes. Nice to know how much I'm losing to these fees, just in case I want to justify the switch to asking for checks more often instead of CC payments which are often faster and more reliable that I'll get paid than paper checks.
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Bruce
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Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 7921
Location: Portland, OR

PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2023 12:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Most of the items on the list are "cost of doing business" and shouldn't be charged to the client... things like electricity, scotch tape, single malt scotch, etc.

Proper charges are your talent fee, the talent fee of others if you've hired them, and that's about it. I used to produce commercials with music and SFX and would charge a "needle drop" fee for music, and nothing for SFX. Now that everything is sent back and forth digitally there's not much sense in charging for storage or transportation of material. Source Connect is a one time expense much like your computer or monitor and you don't charge for those either. Make it simple. Your client expects that.

B
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Mike Paul
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Joined: 05 Oct 2021
Posts: 101
Location: Sacramento

PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2023 12:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ah, gotcha.

So it sounds then like the cost of goods sold are the raw materials that go into the VO deliverable... so my voice (the talent fee) would be the cost of goods sold. Everything else is overhead because they weren't purchased to produce the one deliverable, but rather my business as a whole. Mo bettah? (And yeah... my invoices are super simple: session and usage fees.)
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todd ellis
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Joined: 02 Jan 2007
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2023 12:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Take all of the things like electricity, scotch tape, whisky and constant therapy sessions into account when you bid any project. Create a dollar figure
(in your head, not on the invoice) to account for everything you need in order to do business on a monthly/yearly basis.
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Moe Egan
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Joined: 11 Sep 2006
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2023 11:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Whiskey, hee hee Sarcastic
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todd ellis
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2023 3:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Prove to me it's not a necessary cost of doing business.


I'll wait.
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Moe Egan
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2023 3:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You do have a point
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