Revenue Management: #10 Common Mistakes while Recognizing Revenue

Revenue Management: #10 Common Mistakes while Recognizing Revenue


We are at the end of the series on Revenue Management, covering how different businesses recognise revenue. Even with clear standards like ASC 606 and IFRS 15 in practice, businesses often struggle with the nuances of revenue recognition. Especially growing businesses that are so keen on scaling take a wrong foot.


Where do businesses often go wrong, and how can they avoid it? 


Here are some of the common mistakes businesses make and suggestions for avoiding them before they cause us harm.


Recognizing Revenue Early
A common mistake is recording the full value of a contract or an invoice as recognized immediately upon payment, especially for services or subscriptions delivered over time. This inflates revenue in the short term and understates liabilities.

To avoid this, Businesses should ensure revenue is recognized only when performance obligations are met, not when billing or cash collection. This avoids overstating earnings in the short term and ensures compliance with ASC 606/IFRS 15. Deferred revenue schedules and automated recognition tools can help align recognition with delivery.

Ignoring Performance Obligation
Many companies fail to separate multiple deliverables in a contract, such as onboarding, training, support, or updates. This results in an improper allocation of revenue across the contract's life.

Contracts often include multiple deliverables, such as onboarding, training, or ongoing support. Each should be treated as a separate performance obligation, and revenue should be allocated based on its standalone selling price.

Overlooking Discounts
Revenue must be recognized based on the actual transaction price, not the list price. Failing to adjust the discounts, credits, or rewards provided will inflate the financial figures.

To overcome this, Revenue must be recorded at the true transaction price, not the list price. Discounts, reductions, credits, and incentives should be factored in from the start, and estimates for variable consideration should be reassessed periodically. This ensures reported revenue reflects the real value of the customer contracts.

Failing to Update Contract Amendments
Mid-term changes like upgrades, downgrades, or cancellations must be tracked properly. A reassessment must be performed based on the revised obligations and the revenue that remains deferred. Many companies fail to do this or skip this recalibration step.

Upgrades, downgrades, extensions, or cancellations require proper revenue reassessment. Businesses should clearly distinguish whether a change creates a new contract or modifies the existing one. Automated systems that recalculate deferred balances can simplify this process and ensure accurate reporting.

Manual Spreadsheets
Racking revenue manually through spreadsheets increases the risk of errors, especially when managing deferrals, returns, or variable billing models. Automating this process with tools like Zoho Billing ensures accurate, hassle-free recognition with audit-ready reporting.

Manual spreadsheets are prone to errors and limit scalability. Adopting automated revenue recognition software ensures accuracy and reduces compliance risk. Strong internal policies, approval workflows, and finance team training enhance accuracy and reliability. 



Notes
Key Takeaway

With the right processes and tools, these challenges can be avoided. Businesses that invest in automation and adopt best practices early on will be better positioned to scale sustainably while maintaining compliance with recognition standards. 

Zoho Billing is designed to simplify revenue management by automating recognition, tracking contract changes, handling deferred revenue schedules, and ensuring audit-ready compliance. It provides the accuracy, transparency and scalability needed for growing businesses to keep revenue recognition on the right foot. 







    • 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

    Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


      • Recent Topics

      • Automating Employee Birthday Notifications in Zoho Cliq

        Have you ever missed a birthday and felt like the office Grinch? Fear not, the Cliq Developer Platform has got your back! With Zoho Cliq's Schedulers, you can be the office party-cipant who never forgets a single cake, balloon, or awkward rendition of
      • Transferring domain registration to new registrar and switching email hosting at the same time?

        I need to transfer an existing domain uv cure adhesive that's currently with SiteGround to Porkbun. I also need to move the existing custom email addresses from SiteGround to Zoho Mail. I'm not sure if I should transfer the domain first and then tackle
      • Split deposits

        Can Zoho do split deposits. One deposit, two checks for two separate invoices from different customers. This is one of the most common tasks I can imaging. When I mark the two invoices paid, there are two deposits in bank register. When I try to match,
      • Feedback: Streamlining Note Management in Zoho Notebook

        Dear Team/Support, I would like to share some feedback regarding the note management system that could help improve usability and accessibility for users like myself. Notebook 1 (screenshot attached): Currently, the system does not allow selecting and
      • Deactivate Desk Contact without Deleting Contat

        We have a client who has multiple tenants for regulatory purposes, and as such, has a few users that have email addresses in both tenants. They've then emailed into the ticketing system, so we have multiple contacts (no big deal, we want to keep their
      • Delete my store of Zoho commerce

        Hi Team, I want to delete my stores of commerce. Please help me asap. Looking for the positive response soon. Thanks Shubham Chauhan Mob: +91-9761872650
      • Ability to add VAT to Retainer Invoices

        Hello, I've had a telephone conversation a month ago with Dinesh on this topic and my request to allow for the addition of VAT on Retainer Invoices.  It's currently not possible to add VAT to Retainer Invoices and it was mutually agreed that there is absolutely no reason why there shouldn't be, especially as TAX LAW makes VAT mandatory on each invoice in Europe!   So basically, what i'm saying is that if you don't allow us to add VAT to Retainer Invoices, than the whole Retainer Invoices becomes
      • [Free Webinar] Learning Table Series - Zoho Creator for Asset Management with AI Enhancements

        Hello Everyone! We’re excited to invite you to another edition of Learning Table Series, where we showcase how Zoho Creator empowers industries with innovative and automated solutions. Each month highlights a specific sector, and this time our focus is
      • How to set different item selling prices for Zoho Commerce and Zoho Books

        Item selling prices for Zoho Commerce and Zoho Books are in sync. If we update the Item selling price in Books, the same will happen in commerce and vice versa. I need a separate commerce selling price for online users and a separate books selling price
      • Menu Building is completely broken

        I have been 3 hours, I have not been able to edit the menu. Either it is completely broken, very little intuitive or I do now know anything... There is no way to create a megamenu, no way to create a menu. Despite the fact I go to menu configurartion
      • Can you sell Subscriptions using Zoho Commerce?

        In addition to physical products and the apparently coming soon 'Digital Products', it is possible to sell Subscriptions using Zoho Commerce?
      • Kaizen #197: Frequently Asked Questions on GraphQL APIs

        🎊 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.
      • Multiple Languages for Product Names

        Hi, I use 2 languages: spanish and english. I want to have for every product a name in spanish and a name on english. I want to have to possibility of choosing one of these languages when making an invoice or a purchase order. Is there any way to do
      • Item with name in different languate

        Hello, is there a way to have an item with its name in different languages? For example: I sell an item in different markets and I'd like to have a Proposal and the Invoice with the Item Name in a specific language. Rino Bertolotto Zoho Specialist, STESA srl
      • Contacts with most tickets? Alarm for multiple tickets?

        Is it possible to see through the analytics/reports which contacts are creating the most tickets (not the most discussed ones)? Also, is there a way to set up a notification if a contact creates multiple tickets within a certain time frame?
      • Issue with Template Subject Line Format in Zoho CRM

        Hi Team, I’ve noticed that when I update the subject line of an email template in Zoho CRM, it sometimes appears in an incorrect format when used. Please see the attached screenshot for reference. Kindly look into this issue and fix this issue from backend
      • Two Data Labels in Bar Chart

        I need to create a bar chart that has both the SUM and COUNT. I've concatenated them into a formula but it converts it into a stacked bar / scattered chart. The bar chart is no longer accessible. Since i'm comparing YOY, it would be best to have it in
      • Disable field on subform row

        Hi, Is it currently possible to disable a row item on a subform? I was just trying to do something whereby until another value is entered the field is disable but for the deluge scripting interface threw up an error saying such a function is not supported on a subform. Thanks in advance for your help. Shaheed
      • Leads - Kanban view fit to screen

        Hey guys, I created a custom layout for my leads, staged by lead status. I have 10 types of status. In Kanban view I see only 4 columns/stages and need to scroll to the right to see the rest. Is there a way to make columns/stages be displayed all together?
      • Request to Differentiate Auto-Closed WhatsApp Conversations in SalesIQ

        Hi Zoho Support, I’d like to raise a request related to the way WhatsApp conversations are auto-closed in SalesIQ. Every Monday, our Sales team has to manually review each closed WhatsApp conversation from the weekend to identify which ones were automatically
      • Kanban View UI gets a revamp

        Hello everyone, In the coming week you will notice design related enhancements in Kanban View. The UI has been changed and a new option is introduced under Kanban View Settings that allows to change the color of the category headers.  Please, note that the functionality is not changed. These changes will not apply to the Activities and Visits modules. Here are the details of the changes: 1. The column widths have been fixed to 300 px. The records will have a box around them for clear distinction.
      • Can you stop Custom View Cadences from un-enrolling leads?

        I'm testing Cadences for lead nurture. I have set un-enroll properties to trigger on email bounce/unsubscribe, and do NOT have a view criteria un-enroll trigger. However, help documents say that emails are automatically un-enrolled from a Cadence when
      • Issue with Anchor Link on Zoho Landing Page (Mobile/Tablet View)

        Hi Team, I have created a landing page using Zoho Landing Page and added an anchor link to it. The anchor link is working fine on desktop view; however, it does not work properly on mobile or tablet view. I’ve tried debugging this issue in multiple ways,
      • Simplest way to convert XML to a map?

        I've reviewed the help info and some great posts on the forum here by Stephen Rhyne (srhyne). At the moment I'm using XPath to generate a list of xml nodes, iterating through that to fetch the field name/value pairs and adding them to a map (one map for each record in the data). I then convert the row map to a string and add it to a list. Here's the function: list xml.getRecordListFromXML(string xml_data, string ele_name) {     result = List();     // get list of record nodes     rec_list = input.xml_data.toXML().executeXPath("//"
      • Introducing Creator Simplified: An exclusive learning series to enhance your app development skills

        Hey Creators! Welcome to Zoho Creator's new learning series, Creator Simplified. In this series, we'll dive into real-world business use cases and explore how to translate your requirements into solutions in your Creator application. You can also expect
      • [Product update] Updated Data Synchronization Process for QuickBooks - Zoho Analytics Integration.

        Dear QuickBooks integration users, We’re making an important update in the way data is currently synced in your QuickBooks integration within Analytics workspace. What’s changing: Previously, with every data synchronization, Zoho Analytics used to fetch
      • Zoho CRM new calander format cannot strikethrough completed task

        Hi, Recently there is a new format for calendar within Zoho CRM However, found out that a completed task will not cross out or strikethrough like previous format. Without strikethrough, it will be difficult to identify which task is still in Open status.
      • How to edit form layout for extension

        I am working on extension development. I have created all the fields. I want to rearrange the layout in Sigma platform. But there is no layout module in Sigma. How can I achieve this for extensions other than Zet CLI and putting the fields into widget
      • Employees not Users

        Hello, We are a construction company that has +180 employees and most of them are in remote location working onsite with no access to internet. Is it possible that we have data stored for all employees but have only 5-10 users who will be in charge of entering employees data? or do we have to pay for all +180 employees? even though they won't be using the system?
      • Zoho people generatimg pdf

        Hello , now i want to make a customm button in zoho people that is inside a deduction module , that fetches all the records and generate a pdf with a template that i have done in the mail merges template , i was told that i have to upload template on
      • Ability to Filter Alias Mailboxes in Zoho Recruit

        Dear Zoho Recruit Team, I hope you are doing well. We would like to request a feature enhancement regarding the handling of alias mailboxes in Zoho Recruit. Currently, when we connect an alias mailbox (e.g., jobs@domain.com) from our Zoho One account
      • zohorecruit.com career form postcode bug

        Dear, When I select a postcode from the drop down on a zohorecruit.com career form, the street text field is automatically filled with the name of the city, which should not happen. Any idea how I can fix this? Thanks, Bart
      • Office-365-agenda and Microsoft Teams Integration

        Dear, I have a trial version of Zoho Recruit and trying to evaluate the Microsoft Teams Integration in Zoho Recruit. After registering with my Office 365 account and checking the result of the registration/sign-in at https://mysignins.microsoft.com/ (which
      • Delegate Access - Mobile iOS/iPad

        We’re over the moon that delegate access is now available in Zoho Mail as we were nearly ready to switch platforms because of it! Is there a timeline on when delegate mailboxes will be accessible from the iOS and iPad OS applications? Thanks, Jake
      • How to add Connector in developer platform zoho?

        Hi, I am working on creating an Extension, and part of the development is to retrieve Email templates. In my CRM instance I can invokeURL by creating Zoho OAuth connection and get the template. But developer platform does not provide Zoho OAuth or any
      • How to archive Lost/Junk Leads so sales reps don’t see them, but keep them for reporting?

        Hi everyone, In our Zoho CRM we have two Lead Status values: Lost Lead and Junk Lead. What I want to achieve is: When a lead is marked as Lost or Junk, it should disappear from my sales reps’ Lead views (so they only see active leads). At the same time,
      • Zoho CRM Canvas Copy Original Layout

        Hello all, I want to use Canvas to make small changes to certain views, not to make huge changes. Is it possible to copy the original Zoho layout and set-up and start from there? I checked and all I can find are some templates which are far from the original
      • Is there a way to request a password?

        We add customers info into the vaults and I wanted to see if we could do some sort of "file request" like how dropbox offers with files. It would be awesome if a customer could go to a link and input a "title, username, password, url" all securely and it then shows up in our team vault or something. Not sure if that is safe, but it's the best I can think of to be semi scalable and obviously better than sending emails. I am open to another idea, just thought this would be a great feature.  Thanks,
      • Revenue Management: #5 Revenue Recognition in SaaS

        If you're building or running a SaaS business, you've probably encountered this. You get paid upfront for a subscription and a one-time onboarding fee, but you end up with confusion about when to consider it revenue. Can I book all of it now? Should I
      • MS Teams for daily call operations

        Hello all, Our most anticipated and crucial update is finally here! Organizations using Microsoft Teams phone system can now integrate it effectively with Zoho CRM for tasks like dialling numbers and logging calls. We are enhancing our MS Teams functionality
      • Next Page