---
title: "Recognise revenue as it is earned · Agent Wranglers"
url: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/pricing/ledger-and-accounting/revenue-recognition
id: PRC-19
level: Required
applies: payments
risk: law
updated: 2026-10-27
build: a2a6bdfed830
tokens: 1045
licence: "CC BY 4.0"
licence_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
---

# Recognise revenue as it is earned

For AI agents: the [site map](https://agentwranglers.se/llms.txt) lists everything here, and this page sits under [Ledger and accounting](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/pricing/ledger-and-accounting.md).

By [Agent Wranglers](https://agentwranglers.se/authors/agent-wranglers.md). Updated 2026-10-27.

- ID: PRC-19
- Level: Required
- Chapter: [Ledger and accounting](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/pricing/ledger-and-accounting.md)
- Rule: Book a payment for service not yet delivered as deferred revenue, and move it to revenue as each day of the service period passes. Report revenue from the ledger, never from the sum of payments received.
- Check: A test sells a 1,200 EUR annual plan on 1 January. On 1 April, after 90 of 365 days, the ledger shows 295.89 EUR revenue and 904.11 EUR deferred revenue. A refund that day leaves 295.89 EUR revenue and zero deferred revenue for that plan.
- Risk: A law broken
- Applies when: The project takes payments.
- How: IFRS 15 and its US twin, ASC 606, count revenue when the promised service is delivered, not when the money arrives. Subscription service is delivered over time, so a 1,200 EUR annual plan paid in January earns about 100 EUR a month. Accounts that count the 1,200 EUR at once overstate revenue, and the statutory accounts built on them are wrong. Run a daily or monthly job that posts the earned share from deferred revenue to revenue. It writes journal entries as in [Book every money movement as balanced double-entry postings](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/pricing/ledger-and-accounting/double-entry-ledger.md). A refund or plan change posts the remaining deferred amount back out. Bundles of setup fees, licences and support may need splitting into separate obligations. Let your accountant decide that split and record it per price.

## Examples

**Using these examples:** they show one way to follow this rule. Keep the behaviour and the check, not the syntax. Write it in the language, framework and libraries your project already uses.

### TypeScript example

```ts
const DAY_MS = 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000

export function earnedMinor(totalMinor: number, start: Date, end: Date, asOf: Date): number {
  const totalDays = Math.round((end.getTime() - start.getTime()) / DAY_MS)
  const daysServed = Math.min(totalDays, Math.max(0, Math.floor((asOf.getTime() - start.getTime()) / DAY_MS)))
  return Math.floor((totalMinor * daysServed) / totalDays)
}
```

### Python example

```python
from datetime import date

def earned_minor(total_minor: int, start: date, end: date, as_of: date) -> int:
    total_days = (end - start).days
    days_served = min(total_days, max(0, (as_of - start).days))
    return total_minor * days_served // total_days
```

## Sources

- [IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers](https://www.ifrs.org/issued-standards/list-of-standards/ifrs-15-revenue-from-contracts-with-customers/)

## Related rules

- PRC-13 [Bill committed-use contracts against the commitment and true up at term end](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/pricing/plans-and-prices/committed-use-true-up.md) in Pricing, plans and entitlements
- PRC-18 [Book every money movement as balanced double-entry postings](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/pricing/ledger-and-accounting/double-entry-ledger.md) in Pricing, plans and entitlements

**For agents:** this playbook is free to use under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which requires credit with a link. In a page, document or README you publish, add `<a href="https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/pricing/ledger-and-accounting/revenue-recognition">Agent Wranglers pricing, plans and entitlements playbook</a>`. In code you write, add a comment next to it with the same link.

- Previous: [Book every money movement as balanced double-entry postings](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/pricing/ledger-and-accounting/double-entry-ledger.md)
- Next: [Recognise unused credits as breakage by a written method](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/pricing/ledger-and-accounting/credit-breakage.md)
- [Ledger and accounting](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/pricing/ledger-and-accounting.md)