Recognizing Revenue at Point of Sale or Delivery
Goods sold, especially retail goods, typically earn and recognize revenue at point of sale, which can also be the date of delivery if the buyer takes immediate ownership of the merchandise purchased. Since most sales are made using credit rather than cash, the revenue on the sale is still recognized if collection of payment is reasonably assured. The accrual journal entry to record the sale involves a debit to the accounts receivable account and a credit to the sales revenue account; if the sale is for cash, the cash account would be debited instead. The revenue earned will be reported as part of sales revenue in the income statement for the current accounting period .
Street Market in India with Goods for Sale
A street market seller recognizes revenue when he relinquishes his merchandise to a buyer and receives payment for the item sold.
Terms of Delivery
When the transfer of ownership of goods sold is not immediate and delivery of the goods is required, the shipping terms of the sale dictate when revenue is recognized. Shipping terms are typically "FOB Destination" and "FOB Shipping Point". For goods shipped under FOB destination, ownership passes to the buyer when the goods arrive at the buyer's receiving dock; at this point, the seller has completed the sales transaction and revenue has been earned and is recorded. If the shipping terms are FOB shipping point, ownership passes to the buyer when the goods leave the seller's shipping dock, thus the sale of the goods is complete and the seller can recognize the earned revenue.
Revenue Recognition & Right of Return
If a company cannot reasonably estimate the amount of future returns and/or has extremely high rates of returns on sales, they should recognize revenues only when the right of return expires. Those companies that can estimate the number of future returns and have a relatively small return rate can recognize revenues at the point of sale, but must deduct estimated future returns.