Film Accounting Glossary
Line item
What is a line item?
Also called budget line.
A line item is a single row in the budget or cost report, representing one specific cost with its own account code, rate, quantity, and total.
Budgets are read at line-item level because that is where an assumption can be tested: a rate that is wrong or a quantity of weeks that does not match the schedule. Variance discussions that stay at the department level rarely find the actual problem.
Example
Transportation reads $412,000 against a $380,000 budget. The department-level conversation goes nowhere; the line-item view shows drivers budgeted for 8 weeks and scheduled for 9. One wrong quantity, found in one row.
Figures are illustrative, chosen to show the mechanics rather than to quote market rates.
Where you'll see it
The level at which budgets are actually reviewed and variances actually explained.
Common mistake
Debating variances at department level. The cause is almost always one wrong rate or one wrong quantity, and only the line-item view shows which.
Related questions
- What is a line item in a film budget?
- A single row with its own account code, rate, quantity, and total: one specific cost rather than a department summary.
- Why review a budget at line-item level?
- Because that is where assumptions can be tested against the schedule and current quotes. Department totals hide both the error and the fix.