Goldcrest ensures new financial software helps keep films to budget

Goldcrest Post Production Facilities, based in Soho, London, has announced an overhaul in its financial accounting system.
The company is well known throughout the film industry and has been involved in some of the cinema’s most successful films in recent years including ‘Moulin Rouge’, ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’ and ‘Saving Private Ryan’. While some areas of the film industry sometimes go over budget, Goldcrest was keen to keep a close eye on all aspects of their cost base and create a culture of accountability.
In order to provide value for money and optimum service for their clients, the company decided that it needed to keep control of the hourly usage of postproduction facilities, and therefore the potential profit that they could generate for studios and operators. The previous accounting system was unable to calculate this type of equation, so new Financial Controller Mike Hammond, decided to opt for an Exchequer software package. The whole project, from installation and system definition, through to staff training was undertaken by Whitegate, a consultancy firm specialising in business accounting software.
The new Exchequer system has enabled Goldcrest to process transactions much more quickly with minimal manual intervention.
“We are now able to produce our monthly management accounts by the end of the third working day of the new month, using the OLE technology built into the software. Our finance team has enjoyed working with the system; it has made their jobs far more rewarding as they have more time to concentrate on value adding tasks,” said Mike Hammond. “We have found Exchequer particularly well suited to our needs: it is both simple and flexible to use.”
(GB)