Revenue Recognition

b. Describe what it means for a business to "recognize" revenues. What specific accounts and financial statements are

Revenue is the gross inflow of economic benefits during the period arising in the ordinary course of activities. Revenue should be recognized when the future economic benefits that will flow to the entity can be measured reliably. The new standard will significantly change how companies recognize revenue. It creates a whole new codification in a new era of revenue recognition by replacing hundreds of pages of guidance that are specific for each industry to a single comprehensive standard applicable to virtually all industries. The recognition criteria are usually applied separately to each transaction, but sometimes and under specific circumstances, it is necessary to apply the recognition criteria to the separate recognizable parts or of a single transaction in order to reflect the substance of the transaction. In aviation industry, the revenue transaction or events takes a significant period of time in order to complete because of the nature of product delivering against the sum of money. The five‐step revenue recognition process for this transaction are as follows:

The major benefit of this proposal is that agreement exists that there is more objectivity in measuring and determining changes in assets and liabilities than there is in measuring and determining the completion of the earning process. After taking comment letters on the discussion paper of December 2008 and an initial exposure draft in June of 2010, the boards issued a revision of the proposal in “Proposed Accounting Standards Update (Revised), Revenue Recognition (Topic 605) – Revenue from Contracts with Customers: Revision of Exposure Draft Issued June 24, 2010.” The new document left the basis of the proposal the same and added implementation guidance and a tentative date for adoption. Recognizing revenue under the standard would be a five-step

Being realized or realizable. Revenue and gains generally are not recognized until realized or realizable. Paragraph 83(a) of FASB Concepts Statement No. 5, Recognition and Measurement in Financial Statements of Business Enterprises, states that revenue and gains are realized when products (goods or services), merchandise, or other assets are exchanged for cash or claims to cash. That paragraph states that revenue and gains are realizable when related assets received or held are readily convertible to known amounts of cash or claims to cash.

According to Kimmel, Kieso and Waygandt (2011), "the revenue recognition principle requires that companies recognize revenue in the accounting period in which it is earned." Basically, this means that revenues should be recognized (or in other words recorded) on completion of the process of revenue generation i.e. once revenue has been earned. This is as per the accrual basis of accounting. Essentially, revenue recognition derives its significance from its utilization when it comes to the determination of the specific accounting period in which earnings should be recorded.

Revenue is the gross inflow of economic benefits during the period arising in the ordinary course of activities. Revenue should be recognized when the future economic benefits that will flow to the entity can be measured reliably. The recognition criteria are usually applied separately to each transaction, but sometimes and under specific circumstances, it is necessary to apply the recognition criteria to the separate recognizable parts or of a single transaction in order to reflect the substance of the transaction. In aviation industry, the revenue transaction or events takes a significant period of time in order to complete because of the nature of product delivering against the sum of money. The five‐step revenue recognition process for this transaction are as follows:

Revenue recognition issues are the subjects of headlines in our daily newspapers, primarily because major corporations have recognized revenues that did not meet its revenue recognition rule. For businesses that use cash basis accounting, revenue recognition is a simple process; a sale equals revenue, but not for companies that use accrual basis accounting.  The more complex the business, the more specialized the industry, the more difficult the decision becomes for that business as to when to recognize earnings. Revenue recognition is one of the areas where managers can exercise their accounting discretion to achieve certain objectives. By looking at

b. Describe what it means for a business to "recognize" revenues. What specific accounts and financial statements are

Timing of revenue recognition is a crucial part in revenue recognition. According to US GAAP, revenue should be recognized when it is realized/realizable and earned (FASB, 1984, Para. 83).

Revenue from the provision of goods and all services is only recognized when the amounts to be recognized are fixed or determinable, and collectability is reasonably assured (Elliot B., Elliot J., 2007)

Another area of the revenue recognition principle would be with bartering. When a company receives credits for an exchange, it is not determinable at the time of exchange. Although the exchange is satisfied by the transaction of the revenue recognition principle, the revenue is not yet “realized”, therefore any profit should be deferred. North Face Inc. violated both features of the revenue recognition rule because there was not a true exchange since the two customers did not pay for the merchandise and the transactions were not finalized, therefore the “realized” requirement was not satisfied within the revenue recognition principle.

The revenue recognition principle is a foundation of accrual accounting and one of the main principles of GAAP. The revenue recognition principle is a set of guidelines that helps accountants to identify when a revenue event has taken place and how to appropriately record cash exchanges before, during, and after the revenue event. According to the revenue recognition principal, revenue must (1) be realized or realizable and (2) earned, in order to be recognized. According to the SEC revenue is realized when (1) Persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, (2) Delivery has occurred or services have been rendered, (3) The seller’s price to the buyer is fixed or determinable, and (4) Collectability is reasonably assured. It is essential

Revenues are realized when goods and services are exchanged for cash or claims to cash (that is, receivables). Revenues are realizable when assets received in exchange are readily convertible to known amounts of cash or claims to cash. Revenues are earned when the entity has performed its duties to be entitled to compensation.

Since many things involved while handling an airline company financial management takes a large part of it. This is also the best way to enlarge and develop the company and the services it offers. Net revenue is the measure of profitability, with all revenues minus all costs divided by the total seats flown. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2004, ancillary services accounted for 13.9% of Ryanair’s total operating revenues, as compared to 13.1% of such revenues in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2003. The increase reflected higher revenues from non-flight scheduled operations, car rentals, in-flight sales and internet-related services. These increases more than offset the elimination of charter revenue from April 2003, when the Company re-directed its charter capacity to scheduled services. See “—Ancillary Services” and “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Results of Operations—Fiscal Year 2004 Compared with Fiscal Year 2003—Ancillary Revenues” for additional information.

“An income statement measures the performance over some period of time, usually a quarter or a year”, states the authors of Essentials of Corporate Finance. (Ross, Westerfield, Bradford 2014, p. 27). There are three aspects of an income statement that a financial manager needs to keep in mind when analyzing the numbers; GAAP, cash versus noncash item, and time and costs. GAAP will show revenue when it accrues. According to the authors of Essentials of Corporate Finance, “The general rule is to recognize revenue when the earnings process is virtually complete and the value of an exchanges of goods or services is known or can be reliably determined” (Ross, Westerfield, Bradford 2014 p. 28). As some production costs of items produced are made on credit, the revenue on that item will not be recognized until the sale of that item occurs; any other costs incurred in assembling that product will also not be recognized until the time of its sale (Ross, Westerfield, Bradford 2014 p.28- 29). With this situation occurring, the income statement might not be able to represent all the actual cash flows during the particular period being evaluated.