Revenue Management: #1 What does it mean to "recognize" revenue?

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:


Quote
"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:

Notes

    • 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. 

      Zoho Campaigns Resources


        • Desk Community Learning Series


        • Digest


        • Functions


        • Meetups


        • Kbase


        • Resources


        • Glossary


        • Desk Marketplace


        • MVP Corner


        • Word of the Day


        • Ask the Experts


          • 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

          Zoho CRM Plus Resources

            Zoho Books Resources


              Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                Zoho Projects Resources


                  Zoho Sprints Resources


                    Zoho Orchestly Resources


                      Zoho Creator Resources


                        Zoho WorkDrive Resources



                          Zoho CRM Resources

                          • CRM Community Learning Series

                            CRM Community Learning Series


                          • Tips

                            Tips

                          • Functions

                            Functions

                          • Meetups

                            Meetups

                          • Kbase

                            Kbase

                          • Resources

                            Resources

                          • Digest

                            Digest

                          • CRM Marketplace

                            CRM Marketplace

                          • MVP Corner

                            MVP Corner




                            Zoho Writer Writer

                            Get Started. Write Away!

                            Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                              Zoho CRM コンテンツ



                                ご検討中の方

                                  • Recent Topics

                                  • Search Bar positioning

                                    Why is the Search bar on the far right when everything is oriented towards the left?
                                  • How to use Rollup Summary in a Formula Field?

                                    I created a Rollup Summary (Decimal) field in my module, and it shows values correctly. When I try to reference it in a Formula Field (e.g. ${Deals.Partners_Requested} - ${Deals.Partners_Paid}), I get the error that the field can’t be found. Is it possible
                                  • How to Filter timewise question to check uploaded one month or two months before in these community question ?

                                    i want to find the question that is asked some month or before any particular year, so how can i filter it ?
                                  • Send Whatsapp with API including custom placeholders

                                    Is is possible to initiate a session on whatsapp IM channel with a template that includes params (placeholders) that are passed on the API call? This is very usefull to send a Utility message for a transactional notification including an order number
                                  • Welcome to the Zoho ERP Community Forum

                                    Hello everyone, We are thrilled to launch Zoho ERP (India edition), a software to manage your business operations from end to end. We’ve created this community forum as a space for you to ask questions, comment answers, provide feedback, and share your
                                  • Proposal for Creating a Unique "Address" Entity in Zoho FSM

                                    The "Address" entity is one of the most critical components for a service-oriented company. While homeowners may change and servicing companies may vary, the address itself remains constant. This constancy is essential for subsequent services, as it provides
                                  • How to apply customized Zoho Crm Home Page to all users?

                                    I have tried to study manuals and play with Zoho CRM but haven't found a way how to apply customized Zoho CRM Home Page as a (default) home page for other CRM users.. How that can be done, if possible? - kipi Moderation Update: Currently, each user has
                                  • Workflow Down/Bug

                                    We have a workflow that sends an email to one of our internal departments 10 minutes after a record is created in a custom module. The workflow actually works correctly. However, we have now noticed that on January 8, between 3:55 p.m. and 4:33 p.m.,
                                  • Please can the open tasks be shown in each customer account at the top.

                                    Hi there This has happened before, where the open tasks are no longer visible at the top of the page for each customer in the CRM. They have gone missing previously and were reinstated when I asked so I think it's just after an update that this feature
                                  • Service Locations: Designed for Shared Sites and Changing Customers

                                    Managing service addresses sounds simple—until it isn’t. Large facilities, shared sites, and frequently changing customers can quickly turn address management into an operational bottleneck. This is where Service Locations deliver clarity and control.
                                  • Can I re-send the Customer Satisfaction Survey after a ticket closure?

                                    Hello, Some customers does not answer the survey right after closure, is it possible to re-send after a few days or weeks? Best Regards!
                                  • Filter contacts based on selected category in Zoho Desk ticket

                                    Hello community, I’m setting up the Tickets module in Zoho Desk and I need help implementing the following: When a category is selected in a ticket, I want the Contact field to be filtered so that it only displays contacts that are related to that category.
                                  • Mapping a new Ticket in Zoho Desk to an Account or Deal in Zoho CRM manually

                                    Is there any way for me to map an existing ticket in Zoho desk to an account or Deal within Zoho CRM? Sometimes people use different email to put in a ticket than the one that we have in the CRM, but it's still the same person. We would like to be able
                                  • Introducing Multi-Asset Support in Work Orders, Estimates, and Service Appointments

                                    We’re excited to announce a highly requested enhancement in Zoho FSM — you can now associate multiple assets with Work Orders, Estimates, and Service Appointments. This update brings more clarity, flexibility, and control to your field service operations,
                                  • Assign Income to Project Without Invoice

                                    Hello, Fairly new user here so apologies if there is a really obvious solution here that I am just missing... I have hundreds of small deposits into a bank account that I want to assign to a project but do not want to have to create an invoice every time
                                  • Tracking Non-Inventory Items

                                    We have several business locations and currently use zoho inventory to track retail items (sales and purchase orders). We were hoping to use zoho inventory to track our non-inventory items as well (toilet paper, paper towels, etc). I understand that we
                                  • Profile Page View Customization

                                    I need to change the fields, sections from the profile view of an emplyoyee.
                                  • Zoho Desk Android app update: Filter, Sort and Saved filters Enhancements

                                    Hello everyone! We are excited to introduce the below features on the Android version Zoho Desk mobile app: 1. Filter & Sort support has been introduced for the Contacts and Accounts modules. 2. Sort options is now available in Custom Modules as well.
                                  • Zoho CRM Meetings Module Issues

                                    We have a use-case that is very common in today's world, but won't work in Zoho CRM. We have an SDR (Sales Development Rep) who makes many calls per day to Leads and Contacts, and schedules meetings for our primary Sales Reps. He does this by logging
                                  • How to filter Packages in zoho inventory api

                                    Hi Team, I want to perform some tasks in a schedular on the packages which are in "Shipped" state. I tried to use filter_by in my api call but in return I get response as {"code":-1,"message":"Given filter is not configured"} My Api request is as follows
                                  • Accessing shared mailboxes through Trident (Windows)

                                    Hi, I have a created a couple of shared mailboxes. The mailboxes are showing up on the browser based Zoho workplace, but I cannot seem to figure out how to access my shared inboxes through Trident (Windows). Am I missing something or is this feature not
                                  • Issues Logging into ZOHO

                                    Hello, one of my coworkers is having issues logging into ZOHO, she has requested a code when entering and the email is correct but she has not received the code. can you help us with this?
                                  • Feature Request: Ability to set Default Custom Filters and apply them via URL/Deluge

                                    I've discovered a significant gap in how Zoho Creator handles Custom Filters for reports, and I'm hoping the Zoho team can address this in a future update. This limitation has been raised before and continues to be requested, but remains unresolved. The
                                  • Closing the Loop: Why Lookup Asymmetry is Harming Data Integrity in Creator

                                    TL;DR: Lookup fields allow users to add new related records inline via the "+" icon, but there's no equivalent ability to edit an existing related record without navigating away and losing form context. Adding a native "Edit" icon—with automatic User
                                  • Syncing with Google calendar, Tasks and Events

                                    Is it possible to sync Zoho CRM calendar, task and events with Google Calendar's tasks and events. With the increasing adoption by many major tool suppliers to sync seamlessly with Google's offerings (for instance I use the excellent Any.do task planning
                                  • filtering lookup field options based on information in another module.

                                    In our CRM system. We have the standard Accounts and Deals modules. We would like to introduce the ability to classify Accounts by Sector. Our desired functionality is to have a global list of all sectors that an Account can select, with the ability to
                                  • Really want the field "Company" in the activities module!

                                    Hi team! Something we are really missing is able to see the field Company when working in the activities module. We have a lot of tasks and need to see what company it's related to. It's really annoying to not be able to see it.🙈 Thx!
                                  • 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
                                  • Service op locatie organiseren met Zoho FSM: waar lopen organisaties tegenaan?

                                    Bij organisaties met service teams op locatie merken we vaak dat de complexiteit niet zozeer in de planning zelf zit, maar in wat er rond die planning gebeurt. Denk aan opvolging na interventies, consistente servicerapporten, en het bijhouden van installaties
                                  • Introducing Assemblies and Kits in Zoho Inventory

                                    Hello customers, We’re excited to share a major revamp to Zoho Inventory that brings both clarity and flexibility to your inventory management experience! Presenting Assemblies and Kits We’re thrilled to introduce Assemblies and Kits, which replaces the
                                  • Automate pushing Zoho CRM backups into Zoho WorkDrive

                                    Through our Zoho One subscription we have both Zoho CRM and Zoho WorkDrive. We have regular backups setup in Zoho CRM. Once the backup is created, we are notified. Since we want to keep these backups for more than 7 days, we manually download them. They
                                  • Does the ability exist to make tax on the customer profile mandatory?

                                    I am reaching out to inquire about the possibility of making the "Customer Tax" field mandatory when creating a new customer in Zoho. We want to ensure that all customers have their tax information recorded to maintain compliance with our internal processes.
                                  • CRM gets location smart with the all new Map View: visualize records, locate records within any radius, and more

                                    Hello all, We've introduced a new way to work with location data in Zoho CRM: the Map View. Instead of scrolling through endless lists, your records now appear as pins on a map. Built on top of the all-new address field and powered by Mappls (MapMyIndia),
                                  • IMAP mail after specify date

                                    Hi My customer's mail server is on premise and mail storage is very huge. So It never finish sync. and finally stop sync. Cloud CRM have a option like zoho mail sync mail after some date.
                                  • How to integrate XML with Zoho CRM

                                    Hi, I have an eCom service provider that gives me a dynamic XML that contains order information, clients, shipments... The XML link is the only thing I have. No Oath or key, No API get... I want to integrate it into Zoho CRM. I am not a developer nor
                                  • email association with CRM

                                    Why is it 2024 (almost 2025) and Zoho has not figured out how to integrate email with CRM? It is so inconsistent at associating emails within CRM. I am an attorney. I have clients and work with other attorneys. Attorney John Doe is associated with multiple
                                  • Fix the speed

                                    It takes ages to load on every step even though my dataset is quite small.
                                  • Credit Note for Shipped and Fatoora pushed invoices

                                    We have shipped a Sales Order and created an Invoice. The Invoice is also pushed to Fatoora Now we need to create a credit note for the invoice When we try it, it says we need to create a Sales Return in the Zoho Books, we have already created a Sales
                                  • Whatsapp Connection Status still "Pending" after migration

                                    Hello, I migrated my WhatsApp API to Zoho from another provider a day ago. So far the connection status is still “Pending”. There is a problem? How long does it usually take?
                                  • FSM - Timesheet entires for Internal Work

                                    Hi FSM Team, Several of my clients have asked how they can manage internal timesheets within Zoho FSM. Since their technicians already spend most of their day working in FSM, it would be ideal if they could log all working hours directly in the FSM app.
                                  • Next Page