A New World Of Revenue Recognition

In 1973 the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) was established to set the financial accounting standards in the United States of America for nongovernmental entities. These standards are collectively called U.S. Generally accepted Accounting Principles, or U.S. GAAP. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants acknowledge the authority of these standards (FASB, n.d). A “proven, independent due process” is used to collect the viewpoints of the financial statements prepares and users for the constant improvement of these standards. An Accounting Status Update(ASU) is not an authoritative source however documents the amendments to communicate the changes in the FASB Codification for a user to understand the reason and future of those changes (FASB, n.d).

In 2018 it will be mandatory that AASB111 and AASB108 are replaced by AASB15. This new standards main principle necessitates entities to recognise revenue to portray the transfer of goods or services to customers in amounts that mirror the payment, of which the company expects to be entitled. AASB15 also provides regulation for transactions that were not previously addressed thoroughly, such as service revenue and contract modifications. Essentially it presents a 5 step system of Identifying the contracts with the customer, identifying the separate performance obligations in the contract, determining the transaction price, allocating the transaction price to certain performance obligations and recognizing revenue when or as the entity fulfils performance obligations – This is demonstrated towards the end of the report with a

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

American Trucking Company has recently been experiencing an increase in stolen loads—a loaded tractor/trailer is stolen and the load sold. The merchandise is often worth thousands of dollars, sometimes exceeding the value of the tractor/trailer. American Trucking, while wishing to recover both the load and equipment, seeks a way to locate the tractor/trailer at all times so they can dispatch their security team to retrieve the load before it is sold on the black market (as well as to retrieve the truck/trailer before it is vandalized). They have engaged the services of Truck Locators, a provider of locating services to the trucking industry.

The following report is in response to your request for an authoritative answer regarding revenue recognition when a right of return exists. The authoritative literature that addresses the revenue recognition when right of return exists is the FASB codification. More specifically, the section regarding revenue recognition of products. This section discusses the necessary conditions for recognizing revenue when a right of return exists and the factors that may impair the ability to make a reasonable estimate of the amount of future returns. (FASB ASC 605-15-25)

As the business environment grows and companies find new ways to expand into their respective - or even new – markets, it is important that reporting standards stay up to date with changes and continue to assist companies in providing their users with useful accounting information. Information is labelled as being useful when it meets the

The most relevant and authoritative is FASB Codification: 605-45-45-1, and it pertains to revenue recognition and most importantly to principal and agent consideration. The standard basically states that if you are considered the principal, then you recognize revenues at gross amounts. On the other hand, if you are considered an agent, then you recognize revenues at net amounts. The standard is broken up in the following two sections.

The Codification’s goal is to clarify the company of thousands of U.S. authoritative accounting announcements published by diverse standard-setters. Therefore, to accomplish this objective, the FASB sponsored a project to incorporate and typically adapt all related accounting publication announced by the standard-setters of the U.S. in conjunction with those of the FASB, the Emerging Issues Task Force (EITF) and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

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.

On November 21, 2000, Lucent Technologies announced that it was revising its fourth-quarter results as a result of revenue-recognition problems discovered by its auditors during the year-end financial review. The revision lowered revenues by $125 million and earnings per share by 2 cents from 18 cents. In response, Lucent’s stock price fell by 16%, to $17.56. One month later, on December 22, Lucent announced that after a more comprehensive review, revenues for the fourth quarter would need to be adjusted downward by $679 million, to $8.7 billion, and that earnings per share would be revised from the initially predicted 18

Implication: The value of revenue recognition will impact the compensation of the top management, and the financial performance of MITS.

On May 28, 2014, the FASB and the IASB discharged a standard on the acknowledgment of income from contracts with clients. On June 2014, the FASB and the IASB (all things considered, the Boards) advertised the arrangement of the FASB-IASB Joint Transition Resource Group for Revenue Recognition (TRG). One of the targets of the TRG is to advise the Boards about conceivable operation issues that could emerge when associations understand the new revenue recognition guidance. The TRG also assists stakeholders in understanding specific aspects of the new revenue certain issues identified by the TRG in the guidance on assessing collectability, presentation of sales taxes, non-cash consideration, and completed contracts and contract modifications at transition. On May 2016, the Board decided to add a project to its technical agenda to improve Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, by reducing: 1) The potential for diversity in practice at initial application. 2) The cost and complexity of applying Topic 606 both at transition and on an ongoing basis. The TRG does not discharge persuading direction. Rather, the Boards assess the criticism got from the TRG and different partners to control what activity, assuming any, is vital for every potential

1) In late 2000, Lucent announced that revenues would be adjusted downwards by $679m as a

This assignment features the recognition and measurement of revenue depending on the source of revenue in accordance with the provisions of International Accounting Standards (IAS) 18 Revenue.

The updated revenue recognition standard is expected to greatly change the revenue recognition process for the telecommunication, real estate, and software industries. In this section, we will go through an example that illustrates the potential changes for each industry.