Deferred schedules are an automatic accrual system that enable accountants to defer revenue on the invoice. Once the setup is complete, the schedules will generate along with the reservation's invoice. Whenever it comes time to recognize revenue, the monthly amount that should be recognized will move via Journal Entry from the deferred account to the Sales Income Account.
Note: Setting up deferred scheduling will not affect current or past reservations.
Note: Invoices manually created will not generate a deferred schedule. This will need to be added after the invoice is saved.
Product Setup
Deferred is configured at the product level.
While in the reservation-based module you want deferred to be in, select Products using the menu at the top of the screen.
Select the product you wish to start deferring.
On the first General page, scroll down to the Accounting Section. In the Account field change this to your Unearned or Deferred Account.
Next using the menu on the left select Booking Setup and scroll to the bottom.
Here you will turn on the Enable Deferred Income, change the Frequency to Monthly for quarterly or annually invoiced products or Daily for transient products.
Then make sure the Sales Income Account is the income account you want the money to Journal Entry to once revenue is recognized.
Save.
From here on, any reservations using this product will have the deferred schedule generate automatically along with the invoice.
Revenue Recognition
Whenever revenue needs to be recognized follow these steps.
In CRM → Invoices click on the Recognize Revenue button at the top right corner.
Once selected, this table will serve as a guide to what each function does:
FieldRecognize Through | Any unposted funds sitting in the deferred account dated on the date entered here or prior will be recognized. |
Customer | If you wish to recognize a single customer enter them here. |
Invoice | This field is locked unless the customer field is filled. If customer field is filled you can select the individual invoice to recognize. |
3. Once ready select Recognize.
The JE will appear in Accounting → Journal Entries and can be found by sorting to the end of the list.