Читать книгу QuickBooks 2022 All-in-One For Dummies - Nelson Stephen L., Stephen L. Nelson - Страница 26

The revenue principle, also known as the realization principle, states that revenue is earned when the sale is made. Typically, the sale is made when goods or services are provided. A key component of the revenue principle, when it comes to the sale of goods, is that revenue is earned when legal ownership of the goods passes from seller to buyer.

Note that revenue isn’t earned when you collect cash for something. It turns out, perhaps counterintuitively, that counting revenue when cash is collected doesn’t give the business owner a good idea of what sales really are. Some customers may pay deposits early, before actually receiving the goods or services. Often, customers want to use trade credit, paying a firm at some point in the future for goods or services. Because cash flows can fluctuate wildly — even something like a delay in the mail can affect cash flow — you don’t want to use cash collection from customers as a measure of sales. Besides, you can easily track cash collections from customers. So why not have the extra information about when sales actually occur?