As the expenses are incurred the asset is decreased and the expense is recorded on the income statement. Although it’s more common for service businesses, other topsail island types of businesses also need to account for deferred revenue. Manufacturing businesses often accept deposits for large orders in advance of delivery.

How to record deferred revenue adjusting entry is to decrease the deferred revenue account by a debit entry, and increase the revenue account by a credit entry. Deferred Revenue (also called Unearned Revenue) is generated when a company receives payment for goods and/or services that have not been delivered or completed. In accrual accounting, revenue is only recognized when it is earned.

Cash Flow Statement

He has been a manager and an auditor with Deloitte, a big 4 accountancy firm, and holds a degree from Loughborough University. Recording deposits as deferred revenue prevents companies from paying taxes on revenue that has not yet been earned. For example, if you offer a refundable deposit and a client cancels a project, you’ll have to return the funds. You don’t want to pay taxes on that deposit, since you had to return it. However, deferred revenue can also create problems if it is not managed carefully. If you overdo it, you may misrepresent your earnings and violate accounting rules.

Likewise, the remaining balance of deferred revenue for the bookkeeping service here will be $2,500 (3,000 – 500). This journal entry is to eliminate the liability after the company has fulfilled its obligation. At the same, it is also made to recognize the revenue that the company earns after it has delivered goods or performed the services during the period. You will record deferred revenue on your business balance sheet as a liability, not an asset.

How to Record a Deferred Revenue Journal Entry

If you currently handle deferred revenue and SaaS revenue recognition on spreadsheets or need to kick off the process, please try this Excel template and let me know how it works for you. First, you have no idea about the financial performance of your SaaS business when in one month you have $100K of subscription revenue and in the next month you have $30K of subscription revenue. More importantly, it’s difficult to manage the financial performance of your business without proper SaaS revenue recognition.

The company invoices a customer for a research report that requires payment in Month 3, and will be delivered to the customer in Month 4. In short, there is no receipt of cash payment for an accrual, whereas there is a payment of cash made in advance for a deferral. Like accruals, deferrals also have a critical role in ensuring financial statement reporting is kept accurate, consistent, and transparent for investors. Mary Girsch-Bock is the expert on accounting software and payroll software for The Ascent.

When do you use deferred revenue?

Deferred revenue is a liability account which its normal balance is on the credit side. This account shows that the company received the payment from the customer for the goods or services that it has not delivered or performed yet. Often, your SaaS accounting is outsourced to a bookkeeper or accountant who is not familiar with the SaaS business model.

Assume Mr. Peter is a landlord and receives a 12 months advance rent payment from his tenant. Mr. Peter will record this $12,000 received as deferred revenue in his books which will be a liability to him. Deferred revenue, also known as unearned revenue, refers to advance payments a company receives for products or services that are to be delivered or performed in the future. The company that receives the prepayment records the amount as deferred revenue, a liability, on its balance sheet.

Deferred revenue journal entry example 5: Prepaid insurance

Under the accrual basis of accounting, recording deferred revenues and expenses can help match income and expenses to when they are earned or incurred. This helps business owners more accurately evaluate the income statement and understand the profitability of an accounting period. Below we dive into defining deferred revenue vs deferred expenses and how to account for both. The other company involved in a prepayment situation would record their advance cash outlay as a prepaid expense, an asset account, on their balance sheet.

• I hold an active Tennessee CPA license and earned my undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder and MBA from the University of Iowa.
• You don’t want to pay taxes on that deposit, since you had to return it.
• It is a result of accrual accounting and follows the matching and revenue recognition principles.
• On August 31, the company would record revenue of $100 on the income statement.
• I recognize how important it is to map the invoice to deferred revenue in QuickBooks Online (QBO), @malo21.

In month four the research report is delivered and revenue is recorded. The “Deferred Revenue” line item depicts the unearned revenue that will be reported in a later period. Deferrals are adjusting entries that delay the recognition of financial transactions and push them back to a future period.

How is deferred revenue reflected on the cash flow statement?

Hence, they increase with a credit entry and decrease with a debit entry. This means that the normal balance for unearned revenue or deferred revenue is a credit balance. When an advance payment is made to cover a certain number of months, as the months go by, a certain amount of deferred revenue is earned.

As you work through this post keep in mind that deferred revenue, which is also referred to as unearned revenue, represents a liability to the company. A Deferral refers to revenue that was received before delivery of the product or service to the customer, as well as expenses paid in advance. As the goods or services are delivered over time, it is gradually recognized as revenue in the income statement over a period when the revenue gets earned at given intervals of time. But the deferred revenue turns into earned revenue only after the customers’ receipt of goods or services. However, prepayments are liabilities as they have not been earned yet, and the business still owes the delivery of a product or service to the customer. By properly recognizing revenue, you’ll also make sure that financial statements such as your balance sheet and income statement will be accurate at all times.