Revenue Management: #2 How to compute revenue?

 

In our previous post, we discussed the revenue recognition standards under IFRS 15 and ASC 606 and the five-step model. Now, let's examine three distinct business scenarios to see how the standards and model work in practice. This will help you understand the timeline and values, as well as the challenges that lie behind them. 

​

Scenario 1: One-time Product/Service Delivery

Imagine a custom furniture maker who takes an order in January and is paid $5000 up front for a handcrafted wall hanging that will be delivered in March. Applying the five-step logic from the previous post, the performance obligation here is fulfilled only when the wall hanging is delivered. That means the $5000 sits on the balance sheet as unearned/deferred revenue until March (promised delivery), and computation for a one-time product or service is simple. Record $5000 as recognized revenue in March in one short.

Service	Handcrafted Wall Hanging
Month	Deferred Revenue	Recognized Revenue
January	$5000	$0
February	$5000	$0
March	$0	$5000

 

Scenario 2: Subscription-based Services

Let's picture an online training application that charges $120 for a 12-month training, paid upfront in January. The seller's obligation is to provide sessions once a month. The computation here is straightforward. $120 / 12 = $10 per month. Recognition happens each month as the service is delivered throughout the subscribed period.

Service	Online Training Application
Months	Deferred Revenue	Recognized Revenue
January	$110	$10
February	$100	$20
March	$90	$30
April	$80	$40
May	$70	$50
June	$60	$60
July	$50	$70
August	$40	$80
September	$30	$90
October	$20	$100
November	$10	$110
December	$0	$120

 

Scenario 3: Hybrid Model

Consider a marketing agency that sells a $5000 package made up of two components: a $2000 website redesign, which will be completed in two months, and $3000 of social media management spread across six months. Under the five-step approach, there are two obligations, and while recognizing the revenue, recognize each portion as its obligation is satisfied.

​

While computing, $2000 is recognized fully in the second month as and when the website goes live, and $3000 will be divided for the six months and recognized at $500 per month. 

Service	Website Redesign		Social Media Management
Months	Deferred Revenue	Recognized Revenue	Deferred Revenue	Recognized Revenue
January	$2000	$0	$2500	$500
February	$0	$2000	$2000	$1000
March			$1500	$1500
April			$1000	$2000
May			$500	$2500
June			$0	$3000

 

The Real Challenge in Revenue Recognition

While these examples are easy to follow individually, businesses rarely operate with just one recognition rule or pattern. A software company might bill monthly for some services and yearly for others, and sell one-off onboarding sessions. A manufacturer might deliver large contracts in milestones while earning recurring revenue for maintenance contracts.

​
So, a single business may have a recognition period that is monthly, yearly, or sometimes quarterly. One can recognise revenue at the start of a specific service, and the other may decide to do it at the end of the period.   

Different recognition periods, billing cycles, start and end dates, upgrades and downgrades, and other contract amendments can easily make revenue recognition a nightmare for business stakeholders.

That's why businesses use revenue management tools like Zoho Billing to automate the calculation and gain accurate, detailed, and meaningful insights. These tools encapsulate the five-step model framework into repeatable calculations, so every contract is treated consistently and in compliance with global standards.

The next post'll show how a revenue management tool helps you configure recognition settings and turn these computations into audit-ready reports. 

• Topic Participants

• Hari | Zoho Billing

  

• 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 many clients can be added to Zoho Practice?

  How many clients can be added to Zoho Practice without having their zoho app?

• Stage History

  when viewing a ticket , and you look at stage history tab (kanban view) and look at the stage duration column in days, it shows the current stage of the ticket as " current stage ". Should it not rather show the amount of days it has been in that current

• Automating Ticket Responses Using Zoho Desk's AI Features

  We’re looking to set up an automation within Zoho Desk that can analyze incoming emails or tickets and automatically respond with relevant knowledge base articles based on the content of the request. Could you please guide us on how to configure this

• Optimising CRM-Projects workflows to manage requests, using Forms as an intermediary

  Is it possible to create a workflow between three apps with traceability between them all? We send information from Zoho CRM Deals over to Zoho Projects for project management and execution. We have used a lookup of sorts to create tasks in the past,

• Service locations are tied to contacts?

  Trying the system out. And what I discovered is that it seems that the whole logic of the app is, I'd say, backwards. There is a Customer - a company. The company has contact persons and service locations can be associated with different contact persons.

• Enhancements to Zoho Map integration tasks

  Hello everyone, We're excited to announce enhancements to the Zoho Map integration tasks in Deluge, which will boost its performance. This post will walk you through the upcoming changes, explain why we're making them, and detail the steps you need to

• Bug in Total Hour Calculation in Regularization for past dates

  There is a bug in Zoho People Regularization For example today is the date is 10 if I choose a previous Date like 9 and add the Check in and Check out time The total hours aren't calculated properly, in the example the check in time is 10:40 AM check

• Narrative 12: Sandbox - Testing without the risk

  Behind the scenes of a successful ticketing system: BTS Series Narrative 12: Sandbox - Testing without the risk What is a sandbox environment? A sandbox environment is a virtual playground that allows you to test freely and experiment with various elements

• Announcing new features in Trident for Mac (1.27.0)

  Hello everyone! Trident for macOS (v1.27.0) is here with new features and enhancements to improve scheduling and managing your calendar events. Let's take a quick look at them. Stay aligned across time zones. Both the scheduled and original time zones

• Branding of native system emails

  Make system emails adjustable in terms of branding. We want our system to be completely white label, because it is not a CRM anymore, it's way more than that. We are following the strategy of "CRM for everyone" to use the CRM in all departments, not only

• Slow uploads of large files

  I'm wanting to use Workdrive for transferring large images and video (we're talking things from 100MB-5GB). I'm running solo on a 500MBit/sec fiber connection. I'm getting upload speeds to Workdrive of no more than about 1-3Mbytes/sec when going through

• Migrate Your Notes from OneNote to Zoho Notebook Today

  Greetings Notebook Users, We’re excited to introduce a powerful new feature that lets you migrate your notes from Microsoft OneNote to Zoho Notebook—making your transition faster and more seamless than ever. ✨ What’s New One-click migration: Easily import

• need to upload from airtable to google drive

  I have a zapier zap that automates between airtable and google drive. When a customer uploads a new file into airtable via a client portal interface, zapier uploads that file into a folder linked to that customer's project record. I need to replicate

• Can't delete functions that are associated with deleted workflow rules

  We have a handful of functions that were once associated with a workflow rule, but the rule has been deleted. The function still thinks it is associated so I can't assign it to a new rule. It is starting to get really messy because we have a list of functions

• Default Sorting on Related Lists

  Is it possible to set the default sorting options on the related lists. For example on the Contact Details view I have related lists for activities, emails, products cases, notes etc... currently: Activities 'created date' newest first Emails - 'created

• Credit Management: #1 Credit You Owe vs Credits Owed to the Business

  Think about the last time you ordered food online. You might have paid in advance through your card, but you received a $20 refund because your order got delayed or cancelled. In most apps, refunds don't go into the bank account directly; instead, they're

• Tip #46- Turn Every Session into an Insight with Zoho Assist survey report- 'Insider Insights'

  Delivering exceptional remote support isn’t just about resolving issues, it’s about understanding how both customers and technicians experience each session. That’s where Survey Report in Zoho Assist come in. You can configure and customize survey questions

• Enhancing Zia's service with better contextual responses and article generation

  Hello everyone, We are enhancing Zia's Generative AI service to make your support experience smarter. Here's how: Increased accuracy with Qwen One of the key challenges in AI is delivering responses that are both contextually accurate and empathetic while

• Allow the usage of Multi-Select fields as the primary field on "Layout Rules"

  We want to force our users to enter some explanation strings when a multi-select field has been utilized. I can't understand the reason for the usage restriction of Multi-Select fields as a primary field. This is a simple "Display hidden mandatory field

• CRM/Bookings integration edits Contact names

  Hi there, I've installed the extension that connects Zoho CRM and Zoho Bookings. When we get a new appointment from Bookings from an existing Contact, that Contact's record shows this: First Name was updated from asd to blank value Last Name was updated

• Domain Change

  “Please update my Email-in domain from @biginmail.biginmail.in to @biginmail.zoho.com. Messages to the .in domain are bouncing.”

• Webhooks Limit Exceeded

  Today, I received an error message saying, 'Total number of Webhook call exceeded', but when I look at Manage > Billing, it doesn't look like any of my invokeURL calls are being logged. Following the advice from this thread: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/webhooks-daily-limits-in-zoho-creator

• Auto select option in CRM after Zoho Form merge

  Hi, I have a dropdown field in Zoho CRM that is filled with a Zoho Form. The data is filled but not automatically shown. After selecting the right value in the dropdown the information a second field is shown. So the question is; how can I make the dropdown

• Bring your CRM data straight into your presentations in Zoho Show

  Let's say you are working on a presentation about your team's sales pipeline for an upcoming strategy meeting. All the information you need about clients and leads is in Zoho CRM, but you end up copying details from the CRM into your slides, adjusting

• Improved RingCentral Integration

  We’d like to request an enhancement to the current RingCentral integration with Zoho. RingCentral now automatically generates call transcripts and AI-based call summaries (AI Notes) for each call, which are extremely helpful for support and sales teams.

• Introducing New APIs in Zoho Contracts

  We are excited to announce the release of new APIs in Zoho Contracts to help you automate and manage every stage of your contract lifecycle more efficiently. Here’s a quick overview of what’s new: 1. Complete Contract Draft You can use this API to complete

• Vimeo

  For me Vimeo is the most important video social channel for media and filmmakers. Would others agree and like it added to Zoho Social.

• Delete a department or category

  How do I delete a Department? Also, how do I delete a Category? This is pretty basic stuff here and it's impossible to find.

• Organization Emails in Email History

  How can I make received Org Emails to show up here?

• How to setup pricing in Zoho

  Hi everyone, I am relatively new here and have just moved from my old inventory system to the Zoho one. I am trying to get my head around how it all works. I am mostly setup connected to a shopify store, but I do manual sales also For manual invoicing,

• Prefilled Date fields auto-changed and then locked when using “Edit as new”

  If a document out for signature has date fields (not SignedDate fields) that were pre-filled before sending, and then you use “Edit as new” to create a new version of the same document, the value of those date fields gets automatically changed to today

• Is there a way to update all the start and end dates of tasks of a project after a calendar change?

  Hi! Here's my situation. I've built a complete project planning. All its tasks have start dates and due dates. After completing the planning, I've realized that the project calendar was not the right one. So I changed the project calendar. I now have

• Access Phone Field Components (Country Code) Directly

  Hello everyone, I'd like to propose an enhancement for the Phone field in Zoho Creator. The Problem: The Phone field captures the country code and local number separately, but stores them as a single string (e.g., +1234567890). To get the country code,

• Send mass messages through WhatsApp from the Tickets module

  Hi Everyone! Effective communication is key to delivering prompt and reliable customer support. Because WhatsApp is one of the most widely used and familiar messaging platforms, it's an effective channel for agents to reach customers who have submitted

• Lead Owner Signature Merge Field

  I want to automatically insert a signature (i.e. contact info usually found at the bottom of an email) into an email template, depending on who the lead owner is. What is the merge code for the Signature from a Users profile? CRM > Settings > Customization > Templates There is a popup near the bottom of the edit screen which says: "You can insert a Signature, which is available as a merge field in the users section." It is also referenced on this page: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/crm/customize-crm-account/customizing-templates/articles/template-builder#Merge_Fields

• How do I create a time field?

  I want a field that only records time. I can only see how to create a date-time field. If I do that and enter a time, without a date, nothing is recorded. If I create a number or decimal field, I cannot use it in time calculations. All I want is a field

• Alternating columns - How to reverse order on mobile - Responsive template

  Can the order of alternating columns be reversed on mobile so that image comes before the text? Example: Desktop Row 1 column Left (image) , column right (text) Row 2 column Left (text) , column right (image) Mobile Currently Row 1 Image over text Row

• InvokeURL butchering JSON for OpenAI API calls

  My organization works with mostly educational institutions. We have a custom module called "Schools", which is the user-entered school name they put when using our service (which they enter along with their state and zip code). We want to map this to

• Custom order for Current Stage (Blueprint field)

  Hi! I suggest adding the option to set a custom order in reports for the Blueprint field ‘Current Stage’. Currently, these fields can only be sorted in ascending or descending order. Thanks!

• CRM E-mail Sync from Outlook

  We are exploring Zoho as a possible new solution for our company. We are trying to understand further on how e-mail sync works. We use outlook. Our current CRM logs anytime we e-mail a customer so we can see in the CRM the message sent to the customer.

• Next Page