Revenue Management: #6 Revenue Recognition in Professional Services Industry

If you run a consulting firm, agency, or any service-based business, you have a situation where you have signed the contract, maybe even sent the invoice, and have received some initial payments. So, can you consider this as revenue? What if the project spans several months? What if there is a revision or unplanned scope creep in?

How do service-based businesses recognize revenue for time, materials, and milestones?

Revenue Recognition Scenarios in the Professional Services

This can happen to any service-based firm, like legal advisors, consultants, marketing agencies, and IT services providers, as they don't sell physical goods. Instead, they provide time, expertise, and deliverables with different timelines. This means, the revenue is recognized as work is performed and not when the invoices are sent. Here are some of the common scenarios that a service-based company faces:

Time & Material Billing

Many firms work on time and material contracts, where billing is based on hours logged. In contrast, fixed-fee projects promise a set scope for a lump sum. Revenue must be recognized based on the work delivered, not simply how much time has passed or been billed.

Example: A consultant bills $150/hour. If 40 hours are worked in April, $6000 is recognized for that month.

Bundled Services

Like SaaS, A contract might include onboarding, implementation and support. Each has a different timeline and must be recognized separately. Without clear performance obligations, firms risk misstating their revenue.

Example: A network provider sells routers, installs them, and provides support for a one-year period for $50,000. Here, the revenue earned by routers is recognized immediately; revenue from installation will be recognized as and when it is done. However, the revenue for support will be recognised only at the end of the year.

Milestone-Based Deliverables

Some contracts are milestone-based. Even if the client pays upfront or monthly, revenue must be recognized only when the milestone is met. This leads to uneven revenue patterns and complex tracking.

Example: A $20,000 marketing strategy contract has different stages, starting with $500 for discovery, $10,000 for planning, and $5000 at the time of delivery. Revenue aligns with each milestone.

Different Start Date

There can be cases where the client pays upfront for a project that begins after a few weeks. The revenue cannot be considered recognized until the project begins, and it will be deferred until the actual start date.

Example: $10,000 was paid in June for a project that starts in August. The revenue will have to be maintained as a liability/deferred until August.

Scope Changes & Goes for Rework

Projects often evolve with new tasks, changes in timeline, or even the entire deliverable gets changed. These contract modifications require updated revenue allocation and potentially re-recognition of previously booked revenue.

Example: A legal advisory firm signs a six-month contract for $60,000. After two months, the clients expanded the scope by adding training and doubling the reviews from the earlier contract, which required reallocating revenue for the remaining months.

Since service delivery isn't always linear, tracking obligation completion is essential. Manually doing this for a large-scale contract is going to be close to impossible.

Scenario:

A digital consultancy service signs a contract for $60,000 with a client that includes $10,000 worth of an upfront discovery workshop. Additionally, System implementation is planned for $30,000 and will take three months to complete. Technical assistance will be offered at $20,000 for six months.  

Zoho Billing for Professional Service Revenue Recognition

Zoho Billing allows professional services firms to configure revenue recognition rules tailored to the contract's stages and services.

For the scenario above, the rule could be set as follows:

	For Discovery Workshop	For Implementation	For Technical Assistance
Recognition Frequency	Once	Monthly	Monthly
Recognition Method	Daily	Evenly Distributed	Evenly Distributed
Recognition Time	Period Start	Period Start	Period Start

 

Once configured, Zoho Billing will take care of recognizing the revenue automatically.

It recognizes $10,000 after the discovery sessions are done. For implementation, $10,000 will be recognized per month for the next three months. For technical assistance, $3,333 per month will be recognized, which sums up to $20,000 for the committed six-month period.

Reports in Zoho Billing

If you look at the Revenue Recognition reports after two months in Zoho Billing, you can find,

i) Recognized Revenue Report

Two months into the engagement, the discovery workshop is over, two months of implementation have been delivered, and two months of technical assistance have been rendered.

Component	Recognized Revenue	Description
Discovery Workshop	$10,000	Fully recognized
System Implementation	$20,000	$10,000/month for two months
Technical Assistance	$6666	$3333/month for two months
Total Recognized	$36,666	Revenue earned in two months

 

ii) Deferred Revenue Report

The remaining revenue in deferred is for pending implementation and assistance services that are to be done.

Component	Deferred Amount
System Implementation	$10,000 (one month left)
Technical Assistance	$13,334 ($3333/month x4)
Total Deferred	$23,334

 

iii) Revenue Waterfall Report

Month	Discovery Workshop	Implementation	Assistance	Total
Month 1	$10,000	$10,000	$3,333	$23,333
Month 2	---	$10,000	$3,333	$13,333
Month 3 (upcoming)	---	$10,000	$3,333	$13,333
Month 4 (upcoming)	---	---	$3,333	$3,333
Month 5 (upcoming)	---	---	$3,333	$3,333
Month 6 (upcoming)	---	---	$3,333	$3,333

 

 

Best Practice for Professional Services Revenue Recognition

• Define Deliverables Clearly: Break work into explicit deliverables/obligations to know how it will be delivered.
• Match Revenue with Service Period: Use time-based or milestone-based rules depending on the service to be recognized.
• Reassess on Scope Changes: The system should be equipped to automatically understand contract changes and recognize scheduled changes when the project terms shift.
• Manual Revenue Recognition: It is best to use Manual Revenue Recognition based on completion for long-term milestone-based projects.
  

  

Up Next: Revenue recognition for Construction & Real Estate Industry

• Topic Participants

• Hari Hara Sudhan. S

  

• Sticky Posts

• Community Learning Series | Digest #5 — September 2020

  Dear customers, We're happy to bring you the September edition of our #CommunityDigest! Keep track of your subscription KPIs right from your smartphone: Last month, we enhanced our Android mobile app to help our customers get daily updates on their business health. We got to know from a lot of customers that this has made their job much more easier because they no longer have to keep a reminder to manually check on the previous day's revenue or activations. If you have not downloaded it yet, here's

• Community Learning Series | Digest #4 - August 2020

  Dear customers, We hope you're staying safe and healthy. I'm happy to bring you the fourth edition of our #CommunityDigest with some brand-new updates from us. 1. Daily Business Updates (for Android users) The Zoho Subscriptions Android app has got a cool new update: You can now get a push notification to your smartphone that lets you know how many activations and cancellations have taken place, and what's the net revenue for the previous day. The best part is, you can tell the app when exactly you

• Community Learning Series | Digest #3 - July 2020

  Dear customers, We hope you're staying safe and healthy. We're glad to bring you the July edition of our #CommunityDigest. New community members can view our previous newsletters here. This time, we have two major updates and three interesting topics for you: 1. Zoho Subscriptions Developer Community Since the inception of Zoho Subscriptions, our team believed that the recurring billing platform we provide should be able to offer an extensive API library that empowers businesses to automate most

• Introducing: Community Learning Series | Digest #1 - May 2020

  Dear customers, We hope you are staying safe and healthy. Helping businesses manage their customer subscriptions more efficiently has always been, and always will be, our goal at Zoho Subscriptions. We strongly believe this is possible if we grow together as a community and share what we know with each other. To nurture this shared learning experience, here is our brand-new Community Learning Series! ​ Welcome to the first edition of our digest! Each edition of our community digest includes guides

• Recent Topics

• How is Your eCommerce Experience w/Zoho Inventory?

  First off, I'm SUPER grateful for the advent of Zoho Inventory and now the Zoho Commerce Suite. Overall, Inventory is a great product, especially for customers without an eCommerce presence. For eCommerce companies (especially those shipping more than ~10 packages/day), however, there are certain drawbacks that keep my clients from moving over to Zoho Inventory: Cons: 1. Invoice + Package Creation from Shopify/Other eCommerce Integrations: Zoho Inventory makes the somewhat perplexing decision to

• Ability to Use Both AND and OR When Creating Rules (Advanced Conditions)

  I'd like to be able to use more complicated logic when setting up rules. E.g. in Zoho Mail, I can choose "Advanced conditions (AND/OR) to create a rule that can be applied to multiple subject lines from the same sender. But in Zoho TeamInbox, I will have

• Zoho Desktop App- Unable to Minimize/Freezes

  I'm having issues with my Zoho Mail desktop app (PC). When go on my desktop and open the app this is what happens: - Unable to minimize and close app (in the screenshot attached you can see at the top right there is no option to minimize/close) - Unable

• Zoho Invoice Zapier Integration

  Is there still a way to use Zapier with Zoho Invoice? I've read online that that migrated to Zoho Books or Billing but since I am just using Invoice I can not find a Zapier Connection anymore.

• Conect chat of salesiq with zoho cliq

  Is there any way to answer from zoho cliq the chat of salesiq initiated by customers?

• Bug: OAuth 2.0 State Parameter fails with Pipe Delimiters (RFC 6749 Non-Compliance)

  I've discovered a bug in how Zoho's API Console handles the OAuth 2.0 authorization flow when the state parameter contains pipe characters (|), and I'm hoping the Zoho team can address this in a future update. The Issue Zoho's OAuth 2.0 implementation

• Zobot with Plugs

  Hello, I am having a problem with Zobot using Plugs. Here is my current flow: When I run the flow, I should immediately see the messages from the initial cards (Send Message cards), then after running the plug, and finally, see the messages after the

• Print a document from Zoho Writer via Zoho Creator

  If i use the code below i can get writer to create a new document or email it to me but i want to be able to print it directly from the browser and not have to send it via email and then print. Below is the code im using. Attached options form zoho writer

• Training for How can i Operate the Software Features

  need to Help for Training of the ZOHO Billing Software

• Automating Vendor Contract Management between Zoho Contracts and Zoho Books using Zoho Flow

  Managing vendor agreements across procurement and finance systems often requires manually downloading executed contracts and attaching them to vendor records. This can become time-consuming and difficult to manage when dealing with a large number of contracts.

• VIEW HEADERS PARAMETERS

  A function was created in zoho creator. In the microservices “https://creator.zoho.com/userhome/<adminuser>/admindashboard#/microservices”. A custom API was created and associate the function. In the postman I send some data, how can I visualize what

• Problem applying batch operation error keeps looping that error

  Problem applying batch operation error keeps looping that error an wont login

• Shared Email Sending Duplicate Copies of Emails

  Hi there, We recently have moved our info@ email to Team Inbox to trial. We set this channel up using the Microsoft setup which works fine and have 3 users. I am wanting to know: 1. When I send a new email, it will create a copy of that email and send

• merhaba

  merhaba sosyal medya paketimiz mevcut ama yorumları göremiyoruz ve o yüzden cevap veremiyoruz destek rica ediyoruz.

• Teaminbox not working

  We couldn't send or receive any mail within the team inbox. Displaying error 'Unable to process this request.'

• Related lists New option in missing

  hi I have created quite a few modules and added as related lists to my main module. Some have new, some dont I can not see why?

• Cliq and ToDo integrations?

  I'm a bit surprised not to find any way to open a Cliq chat for the current thread, or to create a Zoho Mail ToDo from a thread. Are these on the roadmap?

• Reply-to names are mangled

  Hello, I'm seeing an odd behavior in replies. Steps to reproduce: 1. Click reply to an email from "John Doe <doe.john@example.com> in TeamInbox Expected outcome: TO field pre-filled with "John Doe <doe.john@example.com>" Actual outcome: TO field pre-filled

• I CANT UPGRADE MY FREE ACCOUNT

  I TRY TO UPGRADE MY FREE ACCOUNT AND I COULD NOT UPGRADE IT CAN SOMEBODY TELL ME WHY? AND I HAVE THE MONEY SO.

• Level up your ASO game with tags & categories in store reviews

  Introducing tags and categories in Apptics' store reviews Dear Apptics community, If your app is listed on the Play Store or App Store, you already know how important store reviews and ratings are. They’re one of the most direct signals of user sentiment

• Including attachments with estimates

  How can attachments be included when an estimate is sent/emailed and when downloaded as a .pdf? Generally speaking, attachments should be included as part of an estimate package. Ultimately, this is also true for work orders and invoices.

• Adding VENDOR SKU to PURCHASE ORDERS

  how can we add the Vendor SKU when issuing a Purchase Order , so the PO shows the Supplier SKU and our own Internal SKU , which is what we want to receive into the system .

• Possible to freely prompt/query CRM data using Zia?

  Is it possible to prompt Zia to query on any information stored in the CRM, especially on the data stored in custom text fields? My use case is the people in my organisation have entered lots of text in custom text fields to capture information from an

• Restrict employees to take only one day holiday from a multi-day festival holiday

  Hi everyone, I have a requirement related to Optional/Festival Holidays in Zoho People. For example, in the month of May there are three optional holiday dates: May 11, May 12, and May 13. Employees can choose one of these days as their optional holiday.

• Cannot modify colours in invoice email template

  I have tried switching browsers... but I cannot change the (pretty horrible) default colours in the preset email when sending an invoice... the blue banner, red outstanding total and the bright green button... I can change other things but not the colours?

• Cannot find zpuid for Zoho Projects user

  I'm using the Zoho Projects v3 API to create a task. The task is created successfully, but in order to assign the task owner, the "Create a Task" API also requires the zpuid of the task owner. Unfortunately I cannot find any user-related API calls that

• Print a document from Zoho Writer via Zoho Creator

  If i use the code below i can get writer to create a new document or email it to me but i want to be able to print it directly from the browser and not have to send it via email and then print. Below is the code im using. Attached options form zoho writer

• Allow styling for specific Subform fields in Zoho Creator

  Sometimes in forms we need to visually highlight a specific field inside a Subform (for example Sanctioned Amount, Approved Value, Critical Fields, etc.) so that users immediately notice it while entering data. Currently there is no direct UI option to

• Placeholder format in Number field does not reflect Max Digits configuration

  When the Max Digits (Maximum digits of number) property is set to a smaller value (for example, 2 digits), the placeholder in the input field still displays a 7-digit format (#######). The same behavior can also be observed in Decimal and Currency field

• How does SKU work when selling products in parts in Zoho Inventory

  Hello everyone, Zoho Inventory does not understand the physical cutting of the piece.. It only tracks quantities of the unit (like feet ). So when you sell part of an item, the system simply reduces quantity for that SKU. Assume that i have a 50 ft long

• CRM Cadences - working timesThe Friday afternoon? The next Monday morning? Not at all?

  I think I’m writing saying that cadence emails are only sent during the organisations set working hours in CRM. So if a particular email is set to send for example in three days and that lands on a Sunday (when working hours are not operational) when

• CRM Cadences - working times

  I think I’m right in saying that cadence emails are only sent during the organisations set working hours in CRM. So if a particular email is set to send for example in three days and that lands on a Sunday (when working hours are not operational) when

• Push Notification for New Bookings in Zoho Bookings App

  when a someone schedules an appointment through the booking page, is there any option to receive a push notification in the mobile app?

• Add the same FROM email to multiple department

  Hi, We have several agents who work with multiple departments and we'd like to be able to select their names on the FROM field (sender), but apparently it's not possible to add a FROM address to multiple departments. Is there any way around this? Thanks.

• Zoho Desk View Open Tickets and Open Shared Tickets

  Hi, I would like to create a custom view so that an agent can view all the open tickets he has access to, including the shared tickets created by a different department. Currently my team has to swich between two views (Open Tickets and Shared Open Tickets).

• Zoho Expense - Bi-Weekly Report Automation

  Hi Zoho Expense Team, My feature request is to please include an option to automate creation of reports bi-weekly (every 2 weeks)

• Application Architecture in Zoho Creator: Why You Should Think About It from the Start

  Many companies begin using Zoho Creator by building simple forms to automate internal processes. This is natural — the platform is extremely accessible and allows applications to be built very quickly. The challenge begins to appear when the application

• Arquitetura de Aplicações no Zoho Creator: Por que pensar nisso desde o início

  Muitas empresas começam a utilizar o Zoho Creator criando formulários simples para automatizar processos internos. Isso é natural — a plataforma é extremamente acessível e permite construir aplicações rapidamente. O problema começa a aparecer quando a

• Dark Mode - Font Colors Don't Work

  When editing a document in Dark Mode and selecting font colors, they don't show up on screen.  Viewing/editing the same document in Light Mode shows them just fine.

• How to Customize & Reorder Spaces in Zoho One 25 (Spaces UI) — Admin Tips Not in the Docs

  Hey Zoho Community, After digging around in the new Spaces UI, I found a couple of admin features that aren't well documented yet but are really useful. Sharing here in case others are looking for the same things. 🔁 How to Change the Default Space Users

• Next Page