Revenue Management: #1 What does it mean to "recognize" revenue?
Earning revenue isn't just about collecting cash from your customers. It's about recording the income correctly and consistently. Revenue recognition is the process of deciding when and how to record revenue in financial statements so that they reflect the true value after the goods or services are delivered.
Today's business models are more dynamic than ever. Subscriptions, long-term projects, bundled products, and usage-based pricing make it challenging to determine when a sale is truly earned.
Today's business models are more dynamic than ever. Subscriptions, long-term projects, bundled products, and usage-based pricing make it challenging to determine when a sale is truly earned.
We will be going through a series of posts on Revenue Recognition and how it works with different industries, starting with,
We will be going through a series of posts on Revenue Recognition and how it works with different industries, starting with,
➤ What is revenue recognition?
➤ What are the principles behind the standards?
What is Revenue Recognition?
Revenue Recognition is an accounting principle that defines when and how businesses can record revenue in their books. It ensures revenue is reported only when the company has delivered the promised goods or service, not simply when a payment is received.
For instance, if a customer pays upfront for 12 months of service, the business cannot recognize all of that money immediately. It must recognize it gradually over the period the service is delivered.
To address these challenges, Accounting standards like IFRS 15 and ASC 606 were introduced.
What Do IFRS 15 & ASC 606 Say?
Both IFRS 15 & ASC 606 are closely aligned. They denote that companies must recognize revenue when they satisfy their performance obligation, that is, when they deliver the promised goods or services fully to the customer.
The core principle is:
"Recognize revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to the customer in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled."
To make this consistent across industries, these standards use a five-step model.
This model helps businesses recognize revenue accurately by following a structured process. Each step ensures that income is recorded only when a company truly earns it by delivering the promise.
This model helps businesses recognize revenue accurately by following a structured process. Each step ensures that income is recorded only when a company truly earns it by delivering the promise.
Steps | Description | Example |
Step 1: Identify the Contract with a Customer | Confirm there is a legal, enforceable agreement with clear payment terms and obligations. | A software company signs a 12-month service contract with a client with proper terms and a clear payment schedule. |
Step 2: Identify the Performance Obligations | Break the contract into separate performance obligations that provide unique values. | Contract includes access to software, onboarding support, and monthly training. These are distinct services and are treated separately. |
Step 3: Determine the Transaction Price | Calculate the total expected payment, including any discount, bonus, or other variables. | The total contract worth is $12,000, but the customer gets a discount of $1000 for an annual payment upfront. The transaction price becomes $11,000 in this case. |
Step 4: Allocate the Transaction Price to the Obligation | Distribute the transaction pricing across the performance obligation based on their standalone selling prices. | If software is usually sold for $9,000, support for $1500 and training for $1500, the $11,000 will be proportionally allocated to each of these. |
Step 5: Recognize Revenue When (or As) Obligations Are Satisfied | Revenue is recorded either over time or at a point when the customer gains complete control of the product or service. | In case of software licensing and implementation, the revenue is recognized monthly over 12 months, but the onboarding is recognized as and when it's delivered. |
This single contract shows how IFRS 15/ASC 606 helps businesses handle complexity like discounts, variable consideration, multiple deliverables and other aspects in recognizing revenue.
Ultimately, these standards require companies to:
- Recognize revenue only when the performance obligation is met.
- While selling services and goods together, consider them as individual deliverables.
- Allocate the total contract value fairly across all deliverables.
- Adjust discounts, bonuses, and other variable pricing.
- Provide an audit-ready document for how and when revenue is recognized.
The bottom line of revenue recognition is straightforward. But while computing, it doesn't look the same when you are dealing with different billing models and while handling hundreds of contracts/transactions.
In the next post, we'll look at where computing revenue recognition gets tricky with some real-time business scenarios.
Access your files securely from anywhere
New to Zoho Recruit?
Zoho Developer Community
New to Zoho LandingPage?
Zoho LandingPage Resources
New to Zoho Survey?
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Bigin?
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'sCommunity 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 youCommunity 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 mostIntroducing: 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
New to Zoho TeamInbox?
Zoho TeamInbox Resources
Zoho CRM Plus Resources
Zoho Books Resources
Zoho Subscriptions Resources
Zoho Projects Resources
Zoho Sprints Resources
Qntrl Resources
Zoho Creator Resources
Zoho CRM Resources
Design. Discuss. Deliver.
Zoho Show Resources
Get Started. Write Away!
Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.
Zoho CRM コンテンツ
-
オンラインヘルプ
-
Webセミナー
-
機能活用動画
-
よくある質問
-
Ebook
-
-
Zoho Campaigns
- Zoho サービスのWebセミナー
その他のサービス コンテンツ
Nederlandse Hulpbronnen
ご検討中の方
Recent Topics
Batch/lot # and Storage bin location
Hi I want to ask for a feature on Zoho inventory I own a warehouse and I've gone through different management software solutions with no luck until I found Zoho, it has been a game changer for my business with up to the minute information, I'm extremely happy with it. It's almost perfect. And I say Almost because the only thing missing for me (and I'm sure I'm not alone) is the need of being able to identify the lot number of my inventory and where it is located in the warehouse. Due to the naturePrevent user from viewing all records?
I have a report that is meant to be used by vendors to view only the records that are assigned to them. All the vendor information is stored in a separate application, so I need to call a function to get the current user's ID (not the zoho user ID). The report settings criteria doesn't support using function calls, so instead I'm embedding the report in an html page like this: if (thisapp.Global.CurrentUserIs("Vendor")) { personID = common.getLoggedInPersonID(); query = "Assigned_Vendor.ID="Series Label in the Legend
My legend reads 'Series 1' and 'Series 2'. From everything I read online, Zoho is supposed to change the data names if it's formatted correctly. I have the proper labels on the top of the columns and the right range selected. I assume it's something inZoho Site pages not displaying in iframes
I simply want to show a Zoho Site page inside an iframe on another non Zoho website. When testing this across many browsers, the iframe content simply does not appear. IE reports that the host does not allow their content to be displayed in iframes. Very disappointing. Is there a way around this please? Here is the URL of the page I would like to appear in an iframe. http://ips-properties-to-rent.zohosites.comZoho Inventory as connector in Zoho Creator
Hello, It doesn't appear that Zoho Inventory is one of the many built in connectors in Zoho Creator? I see that there are non-Zoho inventory applications that have built in connectors such as Cin7, which leads me to believe that I'm missing somethingSend Zoho Forms Link using Zoho CRM Email Templates
I have set up Zoho Forms and CRM integration to pre-populate data from Zoho CRM to Zoho Forms. The setup is working fine. I have also created an email template in the Zoho CRM deals module to send Zoho forms links. So when I send an email using that templateMy go to On Load Client Script - Fast, efficient, and works for ALL profiles; Hides everything except initial fields
This is my on Load client script that I use for Create pages. I use a modified version for Edit and Display pages which you can create yourself using the same basic structure that I will give you below. First up, the script. Below that will be an explanationCRM x WorkDrive: File storage for new CRM signups is now powered by WorkDrive
Availability Editions: All DCs: All Release plan: Released for new signups in all DCs. It will be enabled for existing users in a phased manner in the upcoming months. Help documentation: Documents in Zoho CRM Manage folders in Documents tab Manage filesZoho Books Finance Modules Not Accessible in Zoho CRM Mobile App
We have integrated Zoho CRM with Zoho Books using the Zoho Finance Suite integration. In the CRM web version, we can see the Finance modules (Estimates/Quotes, Invoices, Sales Orders, Items, Payments) and are able to create invoices and quotes directlyCustom Search using HTM+CSS Snippet
Suppose I wanted to create my own list view using HTML and CSS snippets inside a Page with a custom search input at the top of the list (not the Search snippet). Without Javascript, is there a way to retrieve a user's entry from that search input andCliq iOS can't see shared screen
Hello, I had this morning a video call with a colleague. She is using Cliq Desktop MacOS and wanted to share her screen with me. I'm on iPad. I noticed, while she shared her screen, I could only see her video, but not the shared screen... Does Cliq iOS is able to display shared screen, or is it somewhere else to be found ? RegardsMass Update of Lookup Fields not possible
Hello List I've created a custom field for Leads and Contacts 'Current Campaign'. This is very Handy as I can filter leads and then related them to a campaign. Everything ready, but then I realized that mass update doesn't work for lookup fields... aZoho CRM Kiosk Upload Files
Hello all, We are trying out Kiosks at the moment to see where it can fit best in our business. We are still a bit off in the application but lets say we will sort this out. My question is the following - when I create a Kiosk I can add "File Upload"Double opt-in notifications and customizable confirmation messages for your webforms
Dear CRM Community, We are excited to announce a major upgrade to our Webforms feature. You can now customize the confirmation message shown to your users who double opt-in from your webform and also customize your confirmation emails when they submitHas Anyone successfully integrated Zoho and Sage Intact?
Hey all, We’re evaluating Zoho One + Sage Intacct and I’m trying to connect with anyone who has actually implemented the two together.Specifically, I’d love to know: -- Which functions you kept in Zoho vs. Intacct (e.g., Product Catalog, AR/AP, invoicing,Introducing Image Upload Field
Hello everyone, In this post we will discuss about the benefits and usage of the Image upload field. The field is available for standard and custom modules. Usage: This field can be used to upload a gallery of images to a record and share the record with peers or customers. The record can be made accessible to users outside of Zoho CRM via Portals, where they can upload the necessary images. Preview, editing, and deleting images: The uploaded images can be directly edited and saved from the recordTrigger a Workflow Function if an Attachment (Related List) has been added
Hello, I have a Case Module with a related list which is Attachment. I want to trigger a workflow if I added an attachment. I've seen some topics about this in zoho community that was posted few months ago and based on the answers, there is no triggerFree webinar alert on November 19 - Email driven strategies - Master personality based styles
Hello Zoho Community! Want to make email management easier, smarter, and more you? We’ve got just the session for you! Join our interactive, game-based webinar to discover how Zoho Mail adapts to your personality and work style. Learn practical hacks,Associate emails from both primary and secondary contacts to deal
We need to associate emails from multiple contacts to a deal. Please advise how this can be achieved. At present, only emails from primary contacts can be associated. ThanksSubform edits don't appear in parent record timeline?
Is it possible to have subform edits (like add row/delete row) appear in the Timeline for parent records? A user can edit a record, only edit the subform, and it doesn't appear in the timeline. Is there a workaround or way that we can show when a userAI generated meeting notes associated to Account or Deal
As our organization works to improve efficiency we are looking for a solution to leverage AI to generate meeting notes and then add those notes to a CRM record such as an Account or Deal. I see Zoho has a Notebook AI offering that talks about the abilitydue date on cheue
how to handle cheque in zoho books for customers and vendors including due dateAdmin asked me for Backend Details when I wanted to verify my ZeptoMail Account
Please provide the backend details where you will be adding the SMTP/API information of ZeptoMail Who knows what this means?Zoho CRM Portal Field Level Permission Issue
Hi Support Team, I am using the Zoho CRM Portal and configuring field-level editing permissions. However, we are unable to restrict portal users from editing certain fields. We have created a portal and provided View and Edit (Shared Only) access forWebDAV / FTP / SFTP protocols for syncing
I believe the Zoho for Desktop app is built using a proprietary protocol. For the growing number of people using services such as odrive to sync multiple accounts from various providers (Google, Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, etc.) it would be really helpful if you implemented standard protocols such as WebDAV / FTP / SFTP so that alternative inc clients can be used.Different MRP / Pricing for same product but different batches
We often face the following situations where MRP of a particular product changes on every purchase and hence we have to charge the customer accordingly. This can't be solved by Batch tracking as of now so far as I understand Zoho. How do you manage it as of now?'Statement of Accounts does not exist' error received, when creating PO using api in Zoho Inventory
Here is request json -- JSONString = { "date": "2019-09-24", "purchaseorder_number": "PO-6-1", "delivery_date": null, "delivery_org_address_id": 36221200000056XXX, "vendor_id": 362212000000564XXX, "attention": "Testing", "line_items": [{ "unit": "Pieces", "account_id": 36221200000003XXX, "quantity": 1, "item_id": 362212000000049XXX, "tax_type": "", "tax_name": "", "name": "One HD", "purchase_rate": 85, "tax_percentage": 0, "item_total": 85.00, "tax_id": "", "warehouse_id": 362212000000564XXX }] }Zoho Projects API 100 requests/2 min. Limit
Hi Requesting clarification on the API documentation. "You can invoke or call an API for 100 times in a span of two minutes. If you invoke more than 100 times, the particular API request will be locked for the next 30 minutes. " Does this limit applyUnveiling Zoho Sites 2.0 - A new dimension in website building
Dear Zoho Sites Users, We are thrilled to announce the launch of Zoho Sites 2.0 today! This refresh represents a significant step forward in the capabilities of Zoho Sites and is crucial for creating a lasting and positive impact on our customers' businesses.Integrate your Outlook/ Office 365 inbox with Zoho CRM via Graph API
Hello folks, In addition to the existing IMAP and POP options, you can now integrate your Outlook/Office 365 inbox with Zoho CRM via Graph API. Why did we add this option? Microsoft Graph API offers a single endpoint to access data from across Microsoft’sZoho Projects - Attachments added to Task and Bug emails are not saved
Hi Projects team, I have been experimenting with emails into projects to create tasks and bugs. I have noticed that attachments added to the emails are not saved to the task or bug. Is this normal behaviour? Thanks, AshleyZoho Inventory's latest shipping integration updates at a glance.
Hello Users, We would like to share some important news about our latest improvements in the Shipping integration capabilities of Zoho Inventory that we achieved in 2024 with some of our major integration partners in key editions across APAC, North America,How we cut CRM updates from ~20 minutes down to 2, our real workflow
Updating the Zoho CRM after every call used to be one of the biggest time sucks for our team. By the time you write your notes, clean them up, fill in the fields, and log everything properly… you’ve easily lost 15–20 minutes per call. We started experimentingIdentify long running sync jobs/tables
My sync process causes strain on my production database and I'd love some tools/alerts to help me identify which tables are taking the longest. The current screen only shows 3 tables at a time and truncates the last fetch time so that it is very cumbersomeSorting a list of record acquired from the zoho.crm.searchRecords function.
This is something for which I'm trying to figure out a straightforward way to do. The searchRecords does a great job fetching me the records that I want. However, in some cases, where it returns multiple records, I want it to sort the returned list by date of creation of that record, so that when I do records.get(0), I get the most recent record. As an example, here's my sample pseudo code: records = zoho.crm.searchRecords("Clients", "Office_Number:equals:123456"); Now the "records" list above containsZoho Inventory Custom Field Update
Hello All, In this post I am describing how can we Update the Custom Field Value in Zoho Inventory. // Get Org ID orgid = organization.get("organization_id"); // Field Value resvp = ifnull(item.get("purchase_rate"),null); // Record ID iid = item.get("item_id");Deprecation of the Zoho OAuth connector
Hello everyone, At Zoho, we continuously evaluate our integrations to ensure they meet the highest standards of security, reliability, and compliance. As part of these ongoing efforts, we've made the decision to deprecate the Zoho OAuth default connectorAlphabetically
How can i arrange alphabetically - (Manage Manufacturer) Field in Item MasterSpotlight series #6: The Show app for Android TV has a new look!
Hello everyone! We are delighted to introduce our revamped and redesigned Show app for Android TV. Smart TVs are exploding in popularity. Android TV alone has over 110 million active monthly devices. Zoho Show, as part of a constant effort to improveCan i set a default value for country and state in address field in zoho creator?
Can i set a default value for country and state in address field in zoho creator?Next Page