Payroll Errors Enabling Unauthorized Overpayments

$100,000-$200,000 per season in overpaid/underpaid residuals, audit findings, and union settlement negotiations; reputational risk with talent • $100,000-$250,000 in tax compliance failures, exchange rate losses, duplicate payments to international crew, regulatory fines • $100,000-$250,000 in undetected budget overruns, completion bond claims triggered by payroll control failures, cost of post-production audits to forensically reconstruct accurate labor spend, potential disputes with financiers over payroll accuracy

Ad-hoc payroll summaries extracted from production accounting into PowerPoint decks; manual pivot tables showing crew cost tracking; email chains between accountant and investor relations • Crew submits timesheets via email or text; production coordinator manually enters into QuickBooks or Excel; verbal confirmations instead of documented approvals; no real-time union rate verification • Department heads maintain separate spreadsheets; Location Manager submits consolidated manual logs; production accountant manually validates before payroll submission