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.

​
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.

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. 

• 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

• Bill sent for Payment Approval

  Zoho Books currently supports three levels of transaction approval for bills: Draft, Submit, and Approved. We are looking to add a layer of approval like a bill marked for payment before initiating payment requests through HSBC Bank. Can you please guide

• Ask the Experts - Live Q&A webinar

  Hello Community, We’re excited to host our very first Ask the Experts session! Join us on 7 April 2026 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. (IST) for this live webinar Q&A session, where you will have an opportunity to connect directly with our product experts, gain

• Kaizen #235 - Automating record restoration using Recycle Bin APIs in Zoho CRM

  Welcome to another Kaizen week. Here's a question that came up in our developer forum: "I'm working on a piece of software to automate conversion of Leads into Deals based on order status from my company's website. There are some cases where a previously

• Open PDFs using Zoho PDF Editor

  Hello users, In this article, we will be exploring the open PDF capability in Zoho PDF Editor to collaboratively edit PDFs, insert text and images, add fillable and e-signature fields, and more. You can upload PDFs upto 50 MB or 150 pages. Password-protected

• One Contact with Multiple Accounts with Portal enabled

  I have a contact that manages different accounts, so he needs to see the invoices of all the companies he manage in Portal but I found it not possible.. any idea? I tried to set different customers with the same email contact with the portal enabled and

• Bank Feeds Breaking Constantly

  Hey Everyone, I have already reached out to support about this issue but I am wondering if anyone else is having the same issue. My bank feeds keep breaking within days of me fixing them by updating the credentials. Its been happening for a while and

• Timed addition to segments

  Hi there - hoping you can help me figure out a graceful way of doing this: • I want to add contacts to a Segment in Campaigns based on a Stage pick-list field value X in CRM - that bit's fine. The problem is that I only want to add them to the Segment

• Zoho Developer AI Agent = Claude AI + MCP Server + Zoho Ecosystem

  Hello Zoho Community 👋 I’m excited to share a recent integration we’ve worked on at Officehub Tech: ✅Claude + MCP Server + Zoho Creator Zoho Developer AI Agent – an AI-powered Zoho automation platform This solution connects Zoho applications with an

• Cliq 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 ? Regards

• Google Fonts Integration in Pagesense Popup Editor

  Hello Zoho Pagesense Team, We hope you're doing well. We’d like to submit a feature request to enhance Zoho Pagesense’s popup editor with Google Fonts support. Current Limitation: Currently, Pagesense offers a limited set of default fonts. Google Fonts

• CRM

  How do I build an email funnel of 10 emails with decision tree ie; if yes use this email if no use this email. Also I cannot figure out how to add more groups or see my whole groups. I've set up different groups like attorneys is one group of companies/people

• WebDAV support

  I need WebDAV support so that I can upload/download (and modify) documents from my local file system. Is anything planned in his direction?

• Replying from same domain as a catch-all?

  I have 2 domains setup on Zoho, both with associated email addresses. They look something like this: john@example.com (primary address) john@test.com (this domain also has a catch-all setup) I use the catch-all for test.com as a public-facing email address

• Is there a way to show contact emails in the Account?

  I know I can see the emails I have sent and received on a Contact detail view, but I want to be able to see all the emails that have been sent and received between all an Accounts Contacts on the Account Detail view. That way when I see the Account detail

• Internal Fillable Contract with Zoho Writer (Before Sending to Client)

  Hi everyone, I’m trying to automate the following process in Zoho CRM and would appreciate some guidance. Process: When a Deal moves to a specific stage, CRM triggers an automation. CRM sends a contract template to an internal team member so they can

• Import Quote from CRM into document in Writer?

  Hi, I created a quote for a proposal in the Zoho CRM and was wondering if there is a way to embed the quote into a document in Zoho Writer so I can make our sales proposals look a little nicer. Is that possible?

• Zoho Sheet for Desktop

  Does Zoho plans to develop a Desktop version of Sheet that installs on the computer like was done with Writer?

• Can I convert MSG to HTML on Mac?

  Yes, you can convert MSG files to HTML on a Mac using software Aryson MSG file Converter. This tool allows you to convert Outlook MSG emails into multiple formats, including HTML, PDF, EML, PST, and more. It preserves all email content, attachments, metadata,

• Duplicate Leads Notification Help!

  Hello! I have several web forms that have a duplicate lead notification that are being sent to the creator of the web form. I understand how to change the form entry notification, but I am specifically looking to change the recipient of the "Duplicate Lead" notification. Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated! TIA, ~ Jenn

• Adding Calendar Display to Home Page

  I would like to display my calendar in a module on the Zoho CRM Home Page. I can't figure out a way to do this.  Is it possible to display the CRM Calendar on the Home Page?  

• Schedule a Call by Date and Time when a specific lead status is selected

  Hi Wanting to create a workflow where a call can be scheduled by date & time when a specific lead status is selected. Can only currently set the date by Due Date - Trigger Date - Plus 'x' day(s) Thanks

• Incoming email replies not automatically associating with Deals/Opportunities - Is this possible in Zoho CRM?

  Hello Zoho Community, I'm running a travel agency (B2B and B2C) and we've been struggling with what seems like a basic functionality that we cannot get to work properly. Our use case: We send emails to suppliers (hotels, transportation companies) and

• Duplicate Leads Concerns with Round Robin and Lead Approval Process

  It is great to have the Duplicate Lead Approval Process, there are a few issues with the process that I would greatly appreciate taken consideration in enhancing. It appears that A Lead comes in Lead owner assigned by the Round Robin Check for Duplicate,

• Private email threads

  When sending a Private email or receiving a response once the email thread has been marked as 'Private'- is there a way to trigger the system to "restart the clock"? I am finding that when someone responds to a 'Private' thread that it is opening the

• SLA Notification

  Team members have been receiving this notification and feel as though it is as random. Explanation on this notification is appreciated! Also, is there a way to disable this notification?

• Map: Output None

  Hi, Checking if you help me inspect this block The code below triggers during Successful form Submission from another Form. // rec_a = formA[ID!=0]; rec_b = formB[ID!=0]; ListA = List(); //subformA for each recA in rec_a.ItemSubform { for each recB in

• Use arbitrary images in deluge

  I am sending emails from my deluge code and I would like to be able to include a few images in the email template. While I know that I could put the on a website somewhere and link to them in the HTML, that is not what I want due to email client security

• How to add "All Open AND Overdue" back to the Home Page Task Component?

  Hi everyone, I’m looking for a way to restore the Tasks component dropdown list on the Zoho CRM Home Page. Since the recent update to the Task area in my Home Page Classic View, the dropdown options (e.g., My Next 7 Days + Overdue) are too restrictive

• Sync Attachments in Comments from Zoho Desk to Zoho Projects

  Hello Zoho Desk Team, We hope you're doing well. We are actively using the Zoho Desk–Zoho Projects integration, especially for reporting and managing bugs/issues between support and development teams. Current Limitation: After creating a bugs/issues via

• Add a way to connect Log360 Cloud logs with Zoho analytics

  Hi, Several month ago Log360 Cloud was added to zoho one - and this is great. But as far as I see there is no prebuilt way to connect Zoho analytics to the logs we have in Log360 Cloud. Please add a prebuilt connection like we have for so many other zoho

• Auto sync Photo storage

  Hello I am new to Zoho Workdrive and was wondering if the is a way of automatically syncing photos on my Android phone to my workdrive as want to move away from Google? Thanks

• Funcionalidades y configuration ZohoDesk

  Creo que no estoy sacando el provecho adecuado a la application quisiera solicitar una capacitación al respecto

• How to call Functions and perform Write Operations using Page Scripts?

  Hi everyone, How to call a function from a Zoho Creator application within a Page Script, also how to perform write operations (adding or updating records) using page scripts?

• Connecting Airwallex in Zoho Books

  I have a question. I’m trying to connect our Airwallex account to Zoho Books, but the integration does not seem to work. Could you please guide me on how to properly connect Airwallex? I need to see the expenses also, since it only shows the profits now

• Questions Regarding Helpdesk & SalesIQ Customization and Email Setup

  Hello, I hope you’re doing well. I have a few questions regarding Helpdesk and SalesIQ: Can the emails sent to customers via helpdesk tickets be fully customized — including signature, subject line, and other elements? Also, is it possible to send these

• Button Duplication when emails forwarded or replied

  When I create a new email template in campaigns and send it out it looks fine to all the users, however if that email is then on forwarded or replied to then all buttons within the email duplicate.  See below The one on the left is the original one.

• Workdrive backup and default storage selection

  Hi community, I have been informed by Zoho that workdrive will be the default storage mechanism for crm and projects. These 2 Apps seem to have different design on how they interact with workdrive for storage. 1. Crm: seems to have files saves at the

• Ask the Experts 27: Onboarding and managing support reps

  Hello everyone, We are back with our Ask the Experts (ATE) series for 2026. This year, we bring experts to help you address customer support challenges using Zoho Desk. For our first ATE, we are getting into the human side of customer support. "Every

• Introducing Rollup summary in Zoho CRM

  ------------------------------------------Moderated on 5th July'23---------------------------------------------- Rollup summary is now available for all organizations in all the DCs. Hello All, We hope you're well! We're here with an exciting update that

• Enhancements for Currencies in Zoho CRM: Automatic exchange rate updates, options to update record exchange rates, and more

  The multi-currency feature helps you track currencies region-wise. This can apply to Sales, CTC, or any other currency-related data. You can record amounts in a customer’s local currency, while the CRM automatically converts them to your home currency

• Next Page