Explore the main tasks, what you need to be able to do and everything you need to understand to achieve them effectively.
Contribute to cost management on a project
- Identify agreed costs, budgets, timescales and resources related to your work on a production or project
- Update colleagues on progress with your work and any implications this has on costs or budget
- Identify when changes requested by others for your work will impact the budget and communicate this appropriately
- Make realistic estimates for changes to costs or budget for your work where these are necessary
- Seek help or advice when limitations in your knowledge or expertise might impact on the budget or costs
- Who manages the budget for a production or project, and what information they need and when
- The implications of your decisions on the budgets and resources with which you are involved
- How to identify and evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of different ways to increase or reduce costs, or save time
Manage personal income/expenditure as a freelancer
- Ensure that your record keeping (including receipts), and accounts are kept up-to-date and accurate
- Set up and use effective systems for managing budgets, tax, VAT, and other paperwork
- Estimate and agree realistic fee rates, schedule, and other expenses
- Ensure that contracts contain details regarding payment terms and timing, with the obligations of all parties clearly communicated
- Put money aside for tax and national insurance liabilities
- How to estimate realistic rates for fees and, if appropriate, resources such as accommodation and expenses
- How to negotiate and agree legal contracts that clearly include expected income, time available and agreed outcomes
- How to keep simple accounts (income, expenditure, and cash flow) and how to invoice and chase late payments
- How to set and manage personal and business budgets
- How to carry out future planning, scheduling and contingencies for your work in order to maintain a viable work and cash flow
- Relevant sources of advice that are available on employment, insurance, tax regulations and other small business legislation
Advanced: develop budgets for projects or productions
- Confirm the objectives, scope, timescales and, if appropriate, the overall budget for the project or production
- If relevant, determine the size of the budget available and clarify whether any of this has already been allocated
- Determine what appropriate requirements will be in terms of resources, technology, outsourcing, delivery and crew/staff and their likely costs
- Identify and record whether there is any allowance for contingencies to address potential problems and issues that could affect budget
- Use accurate information to calculate realistic and cost-effective budgets
- Present budgets to relevant colleagues for potential agreement
- Negotiate and provide structured arguments if necessary, to support the size of proposed budgets and how these will be allocated
- Agree a final budget which will meet the objectives and specification for the project or production
- Ensure that details regarding the size of the budget and how you plan to allocate it are available to people who need this information
- Details of the overall project, its objectives and timescales
- How to accurately calculate a budget
- Where to get information about overall budgets and existing allocations
- Who to consult to get accurate information about likely costs, both in-house, and from partners, suppliers and freelancers
- How to identify options which offer best value for money
- Typical types of production or project contingencies that may arise, and how to take them into account when estimating costs
- How to present budgets to others, and what headings you should use
- Who has the right to access budget information and who on the production or organisation needs to agree initial and revised budgets
- When to seek financial advice and who can provide this on your production or project
Advanced: manage budgets for projects or productions
- Monitor and manage budgets to ensure that resources are being used according to agreed budget plans for the production or project
- Ensure that full details of progress against budgets are made available to appropriate colleagues
- Identify and record potential issues that could affect budgets
- Identify and consider additional resources or services that could potentially be required and their implications on budgets
- Identify the causes of any significant variances between what was budgeted and what actually happened and take prompt corrective action
- Propose revisions to budgets, if necessary, in response to variances and/or significant or unforeseen developments
- Obtain agreement from the relevant colleagues about changes to budget
- Use information from budget monitoring and control to assist in the preparation of future budgets
- Details of the overall project, its objectives and timescales
- Agreed budget, how it is allocated to cover different activities and resource requirements, how much can be changed without approval
- How to use a budget to actively monitor and control performance
- How to give clear instructions and timescales when requiring others to provide further details to help you manage the budget
- Typical causes of budget variances on productions or projects, how to identify them and different types of corrective action to address them
- How unforeseen developments can affect a budget and how to deal with them
- How to negotiate, agree and record changes to budgets
- Who needs to be kept informed about performance against budget and changes to budget
Download all Managing costs competencies to explore them anytime.
See these other related competencies: