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#revenue-recognition

Revenue Recognition

Revenue recognition principles and accounting standards

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Spec Home Builder Bookkeeping: WIP Schedules, Percentage of Completion, and Why Profitable Builders Run Out of Cash

A monthly work-in-progress (WIP) schedule turns four numbers per job — contract price, estimated cost, costs to date, and billings to date — into an early warning for overbilling and underbilling, the cash-flow gaps that sink profitable builders. Spec builders also differ from contract builders on revenue recognition, since homes held as inventory typically use the completed contract method under the IRC Section 460 home construction exemption.

mike

constructionjob-costingbookkeeping

WordPress Plugin & Theme Bookkeeping: License Renewals, Merchant-of-Record Tax, and Reconciling Envato, Freemius, and Stripe Payouts

Envato's July 1, 2026 move to a flat 50% author revenue share replaces tiered rates that ran as high as 87.5%, and it exposes a deeper bookkeeping gap for WordPress plugin and theme businesses selling across Envato, Freemius, and direct Stripe checkout — gross revenue, marketplace fees, and license-renewal deferred revenue all need separate tracking, not one blended bank-deposit number.

mike

pluginsrevenue-recognitionsales-tax

Bookkeeping for Commercial Composting and Food-Waste Haulers: Tipping Fees, Volume Contracts, and Diversion Savings

With landfill tipping fees averaging $35–125 per ton and rising 3–7% annually, food-waste haulers and composting operators need books that separate revenue by contract type, track tipping fees by disposal site, and isolate contamination costs — here is a chart-of-accounts structure that makes landfill-diversion savings pitches defensible.

mike

bookkeepingsmall-businesschart-of-accounts

Form 8697 Look-Back Interest: Who Files, How the Calculation Works, and What the New IRS Calculator Does

Form 8697 look-back interest settles the gap between estimated and actual results on long-term contracts reported under the percentage-of-completion method — the IRS recomputes prior-year income with final figures and charges or refunds interest only, without reopening those returns. This guide covers who must file under IRC Section 460, the three-step calculation, the separate-filing rule for interest refunds, and what the Excel PCM calculator the IRS released on May 29, 2026 does and doesn't do.

mike

taxtax-compliancetax-preparation

Loyalty Points Are a Liability, Not Revenue: How to Book Breakage and Deferred Revenue Under ASC 606

Under ASC 606, loyalty points are a deferred revenue liability until customers redeem them or you can prove breakage — Starbucks booked $200.4M in breakage revenue in FY2025 this way. This guide covers the journal entries for issuance and redemption, the 12-month data requirement for breakage estimates, and the rollforward schedule that keeps a rewards program auditable.

mike

revenue-recognitionliabilityrewards

When Does a Senior Living Placement Agency Actually Earn Its Referral Fee? A Revenue Recognition Guide

Senior living placement agencies earn 70–80% of a resident's first month's rent — but only at move-in, and often subject to 30-day clawback clauses. This guide explains when to recognize referral fee revenue under ASC 606, how to book refund liabilities from your historical clawback rate, and which pipeline metrics predict cash flow.

mike

revenue-recognitionbookkeepingsmall-business

FASB Settles How to Account for Factored Receivables Billed Before the Work Is Done: ASU 2025-12 Issue 20 and ASC 860

FASB's ASU 2025-12 (Issue 20) clarifies that receivables recognized before performance is complete — annual SaaS billed upfront, retainers, construction progress billings — fall under ASC 860's transfer rules when sold or factored, not ASC 470 debt guidance by default. The fix takes effect for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2026, with issue-by-issue early adoption, and sale treatment still requires passing the true-sale test.

mike

accountingfinancial-reportingrevenue-recognition
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