Revenue recognition

Recognize prepaid revenue when it's earned — not when cash hits.

HeyBen holds prepaid cash on the balance sheet as deferred revenue and posts a clean monthly journal as each month is earned.

Deferred revenue schedule
Active
Spread revenue over time · 12 months

Description

Annual coaching — Acme Ltd

INV-1042 · HKD 12,000 · Straight-line monthly

Recognition progress4/12
M1
M2
M3
M4
M5
M6
M7
M8
M9
M10
M11
M12

Monthly recognition

HKD 1,000

Dr Deferred · Cr Revenue

Remaining liability

HKD 8,000

Balance sheet · Deferred revenue

Next post: 01 Aug · HKD 1,000

Run recognition

The problem

Upfront cash ≠ earned revenue

Booking a year of cash as revenue on day one inflates this month's P&L, hides a real liability, and forces messy year-end adjustments.

  • Profit spikes in the invoice month, then falls flat.
  • Deferred liability is missing from the balance sheet.
  • Year-end reversals eat days of bookkeeper time.

Booked all at once

HKD 12,000

Revenue · January

Spread over 12 months

HKD 1,000 / mo

Revenue · each month earned

How it works

Three steps, then it just posts.

01

Invoice with "Spread revenue over time"

Set the months on a new invoice, or link an existing approved one.

02

Cash and AR post as usual

The remaining balance sits in Deferred Revenue on the balance sheet.

03

Each month, run recognition

Post Dr Deferred / Cr Revenue for the months earned — manually or auto.

What's inside

Built into the invoice, not bolted on.

Spread on invoice

Toggle months on any new sales invoice. The schedule appears the moment it's approved — no side spreadsheet.

Open liability view

See remaining balance, monthly progress and due periods for every open schedule in one place.

Run recognition

Preview what's due this month, post the ones you want, and bank reconciliation stays untouched.

AI find & convert

Scan approved invoices that look prepaid and convert them with an audit-friendly reclass. You confirm before posting.

Who it's for

If customers pay upfront, this is for you.

Coaches & consultants

Prepaid programs by month

SaaS & memberships

Annual plans billed upfront

Retainers

Fixed-fee ongoing work

Annual packages

Bundles delivered over time

Accountants

Cleaning up prepaid messes

Accounting note. GL-only recognition journals. Bank match stays the same. Straight-line monthly schedules.

Questions

Is this the same as a credit pack or session balance?+

No. HeyBen recognizes revenue on a time basis in the general ledger. It's not session credits or IFRS 15 multi-obligation splitting.

Does recognition mess up bank reconciliation?+

No. Recognition journals are GL-only (Dr Deferred / Cr Revenue). They never touch a bank line, so your bank match stays clean.

Can I fix invoices I've already booked to revenue?+

Yes. Run an AI scan on approved invoices, review the ones that should have been deferred, and convert them with a clean reclass journal.

Can it run automatically each month?+

Yes. Turn on auto-recognize per schedule, or keep it manual and click Run recognition when you close the month.

How does multi-currency work?+

Foreign-currency invoices are converted to your base currency at schedule creation, then recognized straight-line each month.

Stop booking a year's revenue in one day.

Set up from the invoice in minutes.