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. 

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. 

​

• 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

• Automatically Add Recurring Zoho Meeting Events to Zoho Calendar / Zoho Meeting Calendar

  Hello Zoho Meeting Team, Hope you are doing well. We would like to request an enhancement regarding recurring meetings created inside Zoho Meeting. At the moment, when we schedule a recurring meeting in Zoho Meeting, it does not appear in Zoho Calendar

• Credit Management: #6 Tackling Common Mistakes in Credit Based Billing

  Businesses extend credit to build relationships, make buying easy, and drive more sales. But somewhere between extending and collecting, things begin to slip. A few late payments here and there, an overlooked invoice, and a backlog make cash flow feel

• Tasks Statuses

  Hi, The task status "Completed" is a final status which closes the task. We need to have a status "Cancelled". However, when the status is set to "Cancelled", the task prompt still has a blue button to Close Task. When the customer clicks that and closes

• Updating Blueprint stage from my Deluge function

  Hi all, I need to update the blueprint stage. Its almost working, but ONLY if the current Deal stage is 'Closed Lost'. On any of my custom stages that Ive specified in the pipeline it doesnt work! My code: dealmap = Map(); deal_stage = deal.get("Stage");

• Canvas: is it possible to have a fixed header?

  Hello. Does Canvas provide the option to have a fixed header, similar to the standard view? It would also be interesting for other parts of the interface, like the header or sidebar of the tab section. Thanks!

• Replacing email ID,

  In zoho sheets If I am sending it as an email attachments can I replace sender email ID from notifications to my email ID.

• Limited layout rules in a module

  There is a limit of 10 layout rules per module. Is there a way to get that functionality through different customization or workflow + custom function (easily accessible), etc. Having just 10 is limiting especially if module contains a lot of data. Are

• Introducing Lead Capture: Empower exhibitors to capture leads effortlessly

  Events provide a great opportunity for exhibitors to generate awareness and engage with potential customers. Efficiently distributing attendee information to exhibitors through a seamless and secure way is of paramount importance. Introducing Lead Capture

• dealing with post dated cheques

  Hi, can you help me please the best way to deal with this We sell an item of three months duration that is paid for with post dated cheques in monthly stages example - item is sold £3000 Cheque 1 is for £1000 due at time of sale (say Sept) cheque 2 is dated 25th of next month (Oct) cheque 3 is dated 25th of next month +1 (Nov) Now, with invoice number one it's simple - i send a standard invoice as usual But with the other two here's what i want zoho to do next month i want it to send an invoice on

• Using Contains as a filter

  We are using Zoho Reports, ServiceDesk Plus analytics. I do not see how to create a report filter using Contains comparison of a string values, is one string contained in another. For example, Task Title contains the word Monitor. Is this possible in Zoho Reports?  This reporting feature is available in SDP reporting. Thanks in advance, Craig Rice

• Mass import of documents into Zoho Writer

  I'm using Google's word processor at the moment but feel that Zoho does a better job (on the online apps market). Iwant to move my documents (about 50-70) to Zoho but it seems to me that I have to import them seperately. Is it already possible to upload several documents at a time or is this a forthcoming feature? Cheers Rolli :?:

• Set off Unearned Revenue

  Hi, I would like to get a clarification on the below. I have an opening balance of BD.725/- in my Unearned Revenue A/c which includes the overpayments of 6 clients. No One of my clients settled his invoices by paying the value of the invoice less the

• How Zoho Desk contributes to the art of savings

  Remember the first time your grandmother gave you cash for a birthday or New Year's gift, Christmas gift, or any special day? You probably tucked that money safely into a piggy bank, waiting for the day you could buy something precious or something you

• Add Webhook Response Module to Zoho Flow

  Hi Zoho Flow Team, We’d like to request a Webhook Response capability for Zoho Flow that can return a dynamic, computed reply to the original webhook caller after / during the flow runs. What exists today Zoho Flow’s webhook trigger can send custom acknowledgements

• Installing EMAIL Setup in New Domain

  Respected Support team, I'm facing an issue with cloudflare in Pakistan, I want to setup Zoho Mail Setup but I Don't know how to enable Zoho mail setup without cloudflare. My Website https://stumbleguyzzapk.com/, https://fakservices.com/ is using CF,

• Fill Colors

  Hello, Just curious, is it possible to manage the Used and standard colors in the fill drop down menu ? I would like to change/edit them is possible to colors I frequently use. Thanks for you reply, Bruce

• When moments in customer support get "spooky"

  It’s Halloween again! Halloween is celebrated with spooky symbols and meanings based on history and traditions, with each region adding its own special touch. While we were kids, we would dress up in costumes along with friends, attend parties, and enjoy

• How can I delete duplicate transactions?

  I want to delete the duplicates not simply exclude them. I have duplicates, because I had automatic bank feeds turned on (had to make sure this critical functionality was working before migrating to Zoho). Now when I import my csv's exported from Wave,

• Python - code studio

  Hi, I see the code studio is "coming soon". We have some files that will require some more complex transformation, is this feature far off? It appears to have been released in Zoho Analytics already

• Multiple email addresses

  Multiple email addresses: I understand there is the ability to add an additional email field to a contact, but the functionality here needs to be drastically revised. Currently, this second email address does not log under the contact email history, nor is it available as a send address when using the Send Mail button within CRM. We recently migrated from GoldMine. I hate GoldMine, but there is one thing they did well: Email. I suggest copying them. Change the email field to an editable picklist,

• ViewID and Zoho Desk API

  I'm looking at the documentation for Listing contacts and it looks like you can filter by ViewID. I assume this is views created in a department or all departments. Is this correct? And if so, how do I find the ViewID for that view? EDIT: I see the view

• Ability to Link Reported Issues from Zoho Desk to Specific Tasks or Subtasks in Zoho Projects

  Hi Zoho Desk Team, Hope you're doing well. When reporting a bug from Zoho Desk to Zoho Projects, we’ve noticed that it’s currently not possible to select an existing task or subtask to associate the issue with. However, when working directly inside Zoho

• Print Tickets

  We have field engineers who visit customers. We would like the option to print a job sheet with full details of the job and account/contact details.

• Zoho Desk integration with Power BI

  Hi, I want to be able to create a Power BI report which has live updates of ticket data from zoho desk, is this possile at all? Thanks Jack

• Ability to Attach Images When Reporting Issues to Zoho Projects from Zoho Desk

  Hi Zoho Desk Team, Hope you’re doing well. We’re using the Zoho Desk–Zoho Projects integration to report bugs directly from support tickets into the Zoho Projects issue tracker. This integration is extremely useful and helps us maintain smooth coordination

• Ability to Choose Task List and Add Subtasks When Creating Tasks from Zoho Desk

  Hi Zoho Desk Team, Hope you’re doing well. We’re using the Zoho Desk–Zoho Projects integration to seamlessly connect customer tickets with project tasks. While the integration works great overall, we noticed two important limitations that affect our workflow

• Sync Task Status from Zoho Projects to Zoho Desk

  Hi Zoho Desk Team, Hope you’re doing well. We’re actively using the Zoho Desk–Zoho Projects integration, which helps our support and project teams stay aligned. However, we noticed that when we change a task’s status in Zoho Projects, the change is not

• Default/Private Departments in Zoho Desk

  1) How does one configure a department to be private? 2) Also, how does one change the default department? 1) On the list of my company's Zoho Departments, I see that we have a default department, but I am unable to choose which department should be default. 2) From the Zoho documentation I see that in order to create a private department, one should uncheck "Display in customer portal" on the Add Department screen. However, is there a way to change this setting after the department has been created?

• Zoho CRM IP Addresses to Whitelist

  We were told to whitelist IP addresses from Zoho CRM.  (CRM, not Zoho Mail.) What is the current list of IP Addresses to whitelist for outbound mail? Is there a website where these IP addresses are published and updated?  Everything I could find is over

• Color of Text Box Changes

  Sometimes I find the color of text boxes changed to a different color. This seems to happen when I reopen the same slide deck later. In the image that I am attaching, you see that the colors of the whole "virus," the "irology" part of "virology," and

• The difference between Zoho Marketing Automation and Zoho Campaigns

  Greetings Marketers! This post aims to differentiate between Zoho Marketing Automation and Zoho Campaigns. By the time you get to the end of the post, you will be able to choose a product that objectively suits you. What is Zoho Marketing Automation?

• 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

• Zoho Mail Android app update - View emails shared via Permalink on the app.

  Hello everyone! In the latest version(v2.8.2) of the Zoho Mail Android app update, we have brought in support to access the emails shared via permalink within the app. Earlier, when you click the permalink of an email, you'll be redirected to a mobile

• Let us view and export the full price books data from CRM

  I quote out of CRM, some of my clients have specialised pricing for specific products - therefore we use Price Books to manage these special prices. I can only see the breakdown of the products listed in the price book and the specialised pricing for

• Weekly Tips: Manage External Images in Zoho Mail

  When you receive emails every day, whether from clients, newsletters, or services, many of them contain external images that automatically load when you open the message. While this can make emails look more engaging, it can also impact your privacy and

• How to display Motivator components in Zoho CRM home page ?

  Hello, I created KPI's, games and so but I want to be able to see my KPI's and my tasks at the same time. Is this possible to display Motivator components in Zoho CRM home page ? Has someone any idea ? Thanks for your help.

• Introducing Record Summary: smarter insights at your fingertips

  Hello everyone, We’re excited to introduce the Record Summary feature. This powerful addition makes use of Zia to simplify how you interact with your CRM data, providing a seamless, consolidated view of critical record information. Scrolling through the

• Account in Quick View Filter

  I have a report that I often run against a specific Account. Every time, I have to go into the edit menu and change the Advanced Filter. I would prefer to use the Quick View Filter, but it does not allow me to use the one and only field that makes any

• Unable to confirm Super Admin assignment — confirmation button not working

  I’m trying to change the roles within my organization. I am currently a super admin and would like to add another user as a super admin. When I attempt to confirm the action, a screen appears asking for my password to verify my identity. However, when

• Delegates should be able to delete expenses

  I understand the data integrity of this request. It would be nice if there was a toggle switch in the Policy setting that would allow a delegate to delete expenses from their managers account. Some managers here never touch their expense reports, and

• Next Page