The binders containing all of the receipts and financials for 2014 – 2016 when Axanar was in LA.
This article presents the full 2014-2016 Donor Financials for Axanar Productions Inc., and is meant to dispel the misconceptions pushed by Paramount and Axanar haters claiming that Alec Peters took donor money for his own expenses.
Back during the lawsuit, Axanar had produced detailed financials for the CBS/Paramount lawsuit. In fact, Alec produced TWO sets of financials, one that showed overall income & expenses of Axanar Productions, Inc., and one that was a subset that showed just the donor money received and where that was spent. As Alec has said over and over, he didn’t take one dime of donor money for any expenses, and when lawyers and haters say he did, well, they are lying. But Axanar productions was Alec’s full-time work, and he ran all legitimate business expenses through Axanar Productions, and put in over $100,000 of his own money in 2016 alone, to cover expenses that were not charged to donors. So one must always remember it wasn’t just donor money being spent, it was Alec’s money that he put in to cover HIS expenses. This is reflected in the “Master” financials and the donor income and expenses reflected in the “Donor” financials (A subset of the Master financials that takes out all expenses paid for by Alec).
It should be noted that these financials were reviewed and approved by Axanar attorneys at Winston & Strawn, the Axanar accountant while Axanar was in Los Angeles, and then when Alec went to file taxes, they were reviewed and approved by Frazier & Deeter, the #1 Atlanta Accounting firm for film production companies (Who said the organization of the documents and record keeping of Axanar was among the top 10% of all clients).
Also, a team of 3 people, two industry professionals and one a Wall Street analyst, reviewed all the financials and produced a one page report where they acknowledged that all the expenses were legitimate and the financials handled by acceptable industry standards.
During the lawsuit, CBS and Paramount were so upset that their claims about Alec spending money on himself were false that they made Alec sit through a second deposition where their attorney seemed unable to grasp that Alec was putting his own money into Axanar to cover his expenses. Paramount has continued to lie about the Axanar financials in order to distract from the real reason they sued Axanar (which they admitted to in the lawsuit multiple times) that Axanar was too good. Yes, the general counsel of CBS at the time, told Alec and Axanar’s lawyers this at their first settlement conference.
Below are images of the following:
1) Full Quicken Reports for MASTER (overall) and DONOR financials for 2014-2016. Plus individual years for the MASTER financials.
2) Income and Expense spreadsheets prepared by Axanar Accountants.
3) Report of the Independent Financial Review Committee.
Taken all together, it is quite clear that Alec not only didn’t take any donor money, but in 2016, while CBS was suing Axanar, Alec put in over $100,000 of his own money to keep Axanar afloat. He has since put in over $200,000 more. We will be highlighting the work done for the Axanar feature film and what the donor money bought, much of which was wasted by CBS and Paramount by suing Axanar.
Full Quicken Reports for DONOR financials for 2014-2016 both cumulative and by year.
Income and Expense spreadsheets prepared by Axanar Accountants.
Yellow highlights note line items that reflect expenses paid for by Alec Peters. The entire $101,343.30 deficit was paid for by Alec Peters, representing expenses under Axanar Productions that Alec paid for. Bank statements would show additional items that would be personal and not business expenses that were also paid for by Alec himself.
Report of the Independent Financial Review Committee.
Please remember, Alec’s lawyers (Winston & Strawn) in the CBS/Paramount lawsuit reviewed these financials. Two sets of accountants, including Frazier & Deeter, the # 1 film production accounting firm in Atlanta, reviewed the financials in preparing the tax returns. The accountant at Frazier & Deeter said Axanar’s financial records were among the top 10% of all of their clients. Plus an Independent Financial Review Committee reviewed the financials and found them executed according to industry standards.
No donor money went to Alec Peters, nor did donor money get spent on legitimate business expenses (like auto expenses or food & entertainment) that benefited Alec Peters.
It should be noted that while Alec wanted to release these financials back in 2017, then PR Director Mike Bawden did not, and so Alec relented. However now, with CBS and Paramount lawyers lying about the Axanar financials, and lying about the reason Axanar was sued, Alec felt it was time to release the full financials.
All these financials are backed up by detailed line item reports and receipts. All these books were retained by Axanar in case of an audit, and Alec has offered donors the chance to review the books on various occasions.
If you have ANY questions, please feel free to email Alec directly at alec@axanar.com. Alec will also be doing a whole podcast episode on the financials next week.
The Axanar Fan Group
Retired IRS Revenue Agent here. The only questionable items I see are the 1099s and the Contract Labor (regularly audited for any business.) As long as those have the proper backup and the recipients reported the income, ultimately they would not be an issue. Travel is usually a common audit item, too, but the total, looking at the total activity, and, taking into consideration that Axanar may have paid for some actors travel, along with other personnel, the amount doesn’t appear excessive.
I’ve audited many a business at this level and I appreciate how the expenses have been broken out and not just lumped together as “Other Expenses”.
Thank you Susan. Would be happy to chat with you and get any feedback you might have. Please reach out to me at 404-918-1701.
Alec
Alec,
First, let me state that I do not believe there has been any form of malfeasance, or embellishment, on your part or anyone else associated with the production.
I do have a couple of questions, and request for a better explanation of a “independent.” Perhaps in a legal setting the three reviewers of the financial statements that were selected can indeed be considered independent. However, I wonder if perhaps, because of there is a linkage between these individuals and Axanar their independence is potentially questionable–especially by detractors. Was there no way to achieve complete independence of the reviewers?
Also, was it not possible to include any statement/letter from the accounting firm that reviewed the financial statement(s) and prepared the taxes for Axanar? It may be that the accountants, or your lawyer, the accounting firm’s lawyers, or the as part of the settlement with CBS/Paramount, any statement(s) from the accounting firm cannot be presented. Or, it could be a case of releasing these statements/documents exposes information that lawyers have advised not be made openly available.
If there is a reason that a statement of audit that was provided with the financial statements cannot be provided? Even a statement from “Axanar” indicating that upon legal advice these specific details cannot be publicly provided would be useful. A statement from the auditor’s prepared set of documents–usually provided by the accounting firm that prepared the financial statement indicating whether their statement wasn’t, or was, prepared without/with specifically auditing each line item included in the prepared financial statements. In other words, every purchased item’s invoice, every expense invoice, haven’t/have been examined specifically; that the general expense statements are accepted “as provided” in the summary documents provided to the auditor. This is a generally accepted practice by accounting firms.
Inclusion of information provided to Axanar, and submitted as financial statements used to prepare taxes, by the accounting firm, I believe would reinforce the statement provided by the independent committee.
Just wondering why such a document is not among those provided here.
Thanks.
1) Independent means they werent part of our team and had nothing to do with the running of Axanar. These were the most qualified people we could get for free. Basically “complete independence” would be an audit, which would have cost $20,000 or more. And I am not sure what the concern is. Do you think someone paid them off? Are industry experts not good enough?
Either way, they were one of many reviews.
2) We never asked for anything like that from the accountants.
If the review of accountants, lawyers and 3 industry experts isn’t enough, well, not much we can do. You are welcome to fly to Atlanta and review everything yourself as I have offered many.
Alec
Sorry but the receipts are not online. There are too many to scan. They are in binders in the office.
As to the line item expenses that is not online either. You either trust the two accounting firms, the lawyers and the independent financial review committee who saw everything in detail, or you don’t.
Alec