Photography business chart of accounts
A photographer often books a wedding or shoot months out, sells prints through an online gallery, and pays helpers, hire companies and travel costs job by job. This chart adds accounts for each of those to the general chart of accounts.
- By Book Keeping Pros
- Sources checked 15 Oct 2026
What this industry adds
- A retainer holds a date that may be many months away. Deposits for upcoming shoots tracks those retainers booking by booking, so the balance still owed on each job is clear when the final invoice goes out.
- Online gallery platforms collect for print and download orders and pay the photographer later. Gallery sales payouts due shows what a platform has collected and still owes.
- Each job runs up costs of its own. Second shooters and editors, Equipment hire for shoots, Location and studio fees, Model and talent fees and Travel to shoots let you add up what a wedding or commercial job cost.
- Props and backdrops holds styling items bought for shoots, which wear out or get used up rather than lasting like camera gear.
Download the chart
The general accounts and this industry's accounts in one CSV file, in code order, which opens in any spreadsheet program.
Download the CSV fileThe accounts this chart adds
| Code | Account name | Type | What goes in it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-1500 | Gallery sales payouts due | Asset | Print and download orders clients have paid for through an online gallery platform, waiting for the platform's next payout |
| 2-1300 | Deposits for upcoming shoots | Liability | Retainers clients have paid to hold a wedding, event or portrait date that is still to come |
| 5-1100 | Second shooters and editors | Expense | Invoices from freelance second shooters, assistants and retouchers for the shoots and edits they work on |
| 5-1300 | Equipment hire for shoots | Expense | Lenses, lighting, drones and other gear hired for a particular shoot |
| 5-1400 | Location and studio fees | Expense | Fees for a studio, venue or location booked for a particular shoot, apart from rent on the business's own studio |
| 5-1500 | Model and talent fees | Expense | Fees for models, hair and make-up artists and stylists booked for commercial or styled shoots |
| 5-1600 | Travel to shoots | Expense | Fuel, flights, accommodation and parking for getting to weddings and location shoots |
| 6-2100 | Props and backdrops | Expense | Backdrops, props and styling items bought for shoots and used up or replaced |
Illustrative example only: these rows show the method and are not sourced data.
What goes in each column
- Code: A number that sorts the account into its group: 1 for assets, 2 for liabilities, 3 for equity, 4 for income, and 5 and 6 for expenses.
- Account name: The name that appears in your books and reports.
- Type: Asset, Liability, Equity, Income or Expense, which decides whether the account appears on the balance sheet or the profit and loss statement.
- What goes in it: The transactions to record against the account.
How to use it
- Give each wedding or job a tracking category and code second shooter invoices, hire, location fees and travel to it.
- Record each retainer in Deposits for upcoming shoots with the booking date, then set it against the client's final invoice. If a retainer is kept after a cancellation, ask your accountant where it should go.
- When a gallery platform pays out, use its payout report to clear the orders it covers from Gallery sales payouts due, post any lab charges it deducts to the general Cost of goods sold account, and post payment processing fees to the general Bank fees account.
- Camera bodies, lenses and lighting the business buys are recorded under the general Equipment account, with repairs to them under Repairs and maintenance, so Equipment hire for shoots is kept for hired gear.
- These accounts hold the photographer's own money. Your accountant can say whether the business structure calls for more.
The chart is a CSV file, which opens in a spreadsheet program. It is not set up for importing directly into any particular accounting software, so check the format your software expects before you load the accounts into it.
Related pages
Related terms
Sources
- Key financial terms
business.gov.au, Australian Government. Current at 15 October 2026, released 9 July 2024. Checked 15 October 2026.
© Commonwealth of Australia 2020, licensed under CC BY 3.0 AU. Licence: CC BY 3.0 AU.
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