Early access · Australia

Film and television cost reporting in the Screen Australia A–Z format.

Build the budget before funding. Connect the production's own Xero at greenlight. Report actuals, variance, QAPE and cashflow on the same chart from first draft to wrap — without a spreadsheet in between.

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ChartForecastShootsCost ReportInvestor ReportFundingCashflow

AUDAS AT 31 JUL 2026PRODUCTION 17 MONTHSPOST 22 WEEKSCONTINGENCY 10%

Code	Account	Budget	Total costs	ETC	EFC	Overs/unders
A.1 Story & Script
60101	Story Rights (incl. Options)	85,000	85,000	—	85,000	—
60102	Writers Fees	142,500	151,880	—	151,880	(9,380)
60103	Story Researcher(s)	12,000	8,640	1,200	9,840	2,160
60104	Script Editor	18,000	18,000	—	18,000	—
60105	Concept Development	9,500	6,100	2,000	8,100	1,400
	Total A.1	267,000	269,620	3,200	272,820	(5,820)

reported periodyour estimate to completeoverunder

Built for the people who sign the cost report

The A–Z chart is what Australian financiers, agencies and offset auditors already read. azedcost keeps every stage of a production on it, so nothing is re-keyed between the budget, the ledger and the report.

Producers

Budgeting before the money is in

Build and re-cut as many A–Z budgets as development needs — durations, rates, shoots, overhead and contingency — and hand a financier the columns they expect. No Xero required at this stage.

Production accountants

Actuals without the spreadsheet

At greenlight the locked budget becomes the production. The chart is pushed into the production's own Xero organisation, actuals come back each night, and the cost report, ETC and EFC are always current.

Financiers & agencies

The report in the format you read

Cost report, investor report, funding drawdowns and cashflow on the standard chart, with closed periods shaded and every figure traceable to a transaction. Exported to Excel when you want a copy.

Executive producers

One place to look

Every budget and every production for your company, who changed what and when, and a read-only seat for anyone who only needs to see it.

How it works

One chart from the first draft to wrap. The budget stage stands on its own; Xero joins only when there is a production to account for.

Build the budgetStart from the full A–Z chart, or import the spreadsheet you already have. Price lines by rate, duration or shoot; set overhead and contingency; add investor columns.
Lock it at greenlightThe approved estimate is frozen with its working beside it. From here the budget is a production.
Connect XeroConnect the production's own Xero organisation — your subscription, your data. azedcost pushes the chart of accounts and the Shoot and QAPE tracking categories into it.
Actuals arrive nightlyTransactions, journals, invoices, bills and attachments are pulled from Xero each night and landed on the chart. Close a period and it stays closed.
ReportCost report with ETC and EFC, variance, QAPE, funding drawdowns, the Statement of Investor Funds and cashflow — on screen, and exported when the financier asks.

What you get

Two tiers that follow the life of a production. Every organisation starts on the budget tier; a production is added when a project is funded.

Tier one

Budget

Development and financing · no Xero needed

The full Screen Australia A–Z chart — every account and section band, kept current for you.
Forecast build-up — rate × duration, per shoot, or a straight amount; overhead and contingency as percentages that re-price when the schedule moves.
Shoots — blocks with their own dates, locations and rates; cancel one and its lines drop to zero with the pricing kept for reference.
Cost Report and Investor Report columns — the budget presented the way a financier wants to see it.
Import and export — bring in an existing budget spreadsheet; export any screen to Excel.
Unlimited budgets, archived when done — duplicate to price a different scenario; every change is in the history.

Tier two

Production

From greenlight to wrap · connects the production's own Xero

Chart push — the A–Z accounts and Shoot/QAPE tracking categories created in Xero from the locked budget.
Nightly actuals — pulled from Xero each night and landed on the chart, period by period.
Cost report — budget, total costs, estimate to complete, estimate at completion, overs and unders; closed periods shaded.
QAPE, funding and cashflow — qualifying expenditure, investor drawdowns, the Statement of Investor Funds and the cash position by month.
Transactions and documents — drill from any figure to the Xero transaction behind it; keep the deal documents beside the numbers.
Team — owners, editors and read-only viewers per organisation.

Early access. We are onboarding a small number of productions by hand and pricing is on application. Sign in to request access and we'll come back to you with the terms for your company.

Your data

The production's Xero organisation is yours: your subscription, your records, your Connected Apps page. azedcost holds the budget and what it has pulled.

Hosted in AustraliaThe database is in Sydney; the application runs on infrastructure we operate in Australia. Documents live in private storage reachable only through the app.

What we touch in XeroWe read transactions, contacts, attachments and reports. The one thing we write is the chart of accounts and tracking categories, at your request, at greenlight.

Backed up nightlyThe database and every document are backed up each night to encrypted storage with an offsite copy.

Yours to takeExport any budget or report to Excel at any time. Disconnect Xero from Xero's own Connected Apps page whenever you choose.

Questions

Do I need Xero to start?

No. The budget tier has nothing to do with Xero — you build and re-cut budgets in azedcost alone. Xero is connected only when a budget is locked and becomes a production.

Whose Xero subscription is it?

The production's. You create (or already have) the Xero organisation for the production company or SPV; azedcost connects to it as an app. We never hold your accounting data as the only copy.

Is this the official Screen Australia template?

azedcost uses the Screen Australia A–Z budget format — the standard chart of accounts and section structure that Australian agencies, financiers and offset auditors expect. It is not published or endorsed by Screen Australia.

Can I import the budget I already have?

Yes. Upload the spreadsheet; azedcost reads the account codes and amounts, shows you what it matched and what it could not, and lets you resolve the rest before anything is saved.

Can my financier or auditor see the report?

Yes. Invite them to the organisation as a viewer — they can open every screen and export, but not change anything. Or send them the Excel export.

What does the cost report show?

For each account: the approved budget, total costs to date from Xero, your estimate to complete, the resulting estimate at completion, and the over or under against budget. Periods you have reported on are closed and shaded so they cannot drift.

What happens at wrap?

The production is completed and becomes read-only — it still opens and still exports. If the SPV is being wound up and Xero cancelled, our sister product MirrorBeans can take a verified archive of the whole Xero organisation first.

Who is behind azedcost?

azedcost is built and operated by EMJ Services Pty Ltd in Sydney, an accounting practice that prepares A–Z cost reports for Australian screen productions. The product exists because we needed it.