Revenue Recognition Guide - 2017 Author:Scott A. Taub, CPA Revenue is the top line in the income statement and one of the most important figures to both preparers and users of financial statements. It is also one of the most difficult numbers in the financial statements to get right. Revenue Recognition Guide is a comprehensive reference manual covering the key concepts and issues that arise in determin... more »ing when and how to recognize revenue. It covers the litany of existing authoritative literature related to revenue recognition and clarifies those revenue recognition concepts that are vague. For issues not addressed in the accounting literature, this Guide provides suggested accounting treatments that are consistent with general revenue recognition concepts and principles. The Guide also provides examples of key points, includes excerpts from the financial statements of public companies, illustrating key concepts and judgments, and discusses revenue recognition projects on the agendas of the various accounting standard-setters. The 2017 Edition also includes a discussion of the new comprehensive standard on revenue recognition, ASU 2014-09, which will be effective in 2016 for public companies and 2017 for private companies. (This new standard will replace almost all of the existing guidance on revenue recognition.) For the 2017 Edition, comparisons of the current and new standards are provided in each chapter. Revenue Recognition Guide is organized into 13 chapters. Within these chapters, a number of Observations and Practice Pointers highlight key consequences of the accounting guidance and identifies issues to watch for when dealing with certain revenue transactions. SEC Registrant Alerts highlights issues that the SEC is particularly focused on, as well as additional guidance provided by the SEC beyond the guidance typically followed by non-public companies. To facilitate research, the text includes references to pertinent paragraphs of the authoritative literature addressing key points. Material can be located several ways: the Cross-Reference lists show the chapter in which a particular pronouncement is discussed; the Index provides a quick page reference based on topic. Revenue Recognition Guide covers the following topics: - A Brief Survey of Revenue-Related Literature - General Principles - Multiple-Deliverable Revenue Arrangements - Product Deliverables - Service Deliverables - Intellectual Property Deliverables - Miscellaneous Issues - Contract Accounting - Software--A Complete Model - Presentation - Disclosures - Topic 606, Revenue From Contracts With Customers« less