The Revenue Recognition report provides a detailed view of your venue's income using accrual accounting principles. It breaks down recognized revenue (income earned) and deferred revenue (income yet to be earned) while tracking funds from initial transactions to final revenue recognition.
Track revenue and reconcile accounts
This report provides valuable insights into key financial data, including:
- Deferred revenue – Payments received for future services (bookings not yet redeemed at POS or expired).
- Accounts receivable – Amounts owed for redeemed or expired bookings that haven’t been paid yet.
- Gross revenue – Total recognized revenue, including tax, based on when services are delivered.
- Net revenue – Gross revenue minus applicable taxes and discounts.
In ROLLER, revenue is recognized when a booking item is redeemed at POS or expires (due to no-shows or tickets not being redeemed), regardless of when the payment was received. This ensures your financial data aligns with accrual accounting principles.
This report also tracks the complete movement of funds — from the point they are collected as funds received, through being held as deferred revenue, and finally into recognized net revenue. By providing a granular view of each transaction, recognition, and adjustment, it offers a full audit trail of financial activity.
Additionally, this report contains the foundational data used in other financial reports. The metrics and data presented here roll up into summary-level reports, ensuring consistency across all reports. Note:
Note: If your venue uses cash accounting, accrual-related columns will not apply and will be excluded from the report.
When to use this report
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Track deferred revenue for pre-paid bookings
Monitor deferred revenue and ensure it’s only recognized when services are delivered.
Example: A customer books tickets for a future date, and the revenue is recorded as deferred until the tickets are redeemed or expire.
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Reconcile accounts accurately
Match payments with recognized revenue and ensure deferred revenue and accounts receivable are properly recorded.
Use the report for end-of-period closings to confirm revenue is allocated correctly in financial statements.
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Manage gift card revenue
Track gift card sales and redemptions. Revenue from gift cards is deferred when sold and recognized when redeemed.
Example: A guest purchases a $50 gift card. The amount is recorded as deferred revenue. When the gift card is redeemed for tickets, that amount shifts from deferred revenue to recognized revenue.
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Manage cancellations and adjustments
Ensure accurate revenue adjustments when bookings are canceled or modified.
Example: If a partial refund is issued, the report reflects the correct revenue adjustments and updates deferred revenue accordingly.
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Identify and resolve discrepancies
Export the data to a CSV file to troubleshoot and resolve mismatches between recognized revenue, deferred revenue and funds received.
Example: If funds were received but not fully recognized due to unredeemed tickets, the report helps pinpoint the issue.
Run the report
- From Venue Manager, go to Reports > All reports.
- Search for and select the Revenue Recognition report.
Filter your results
You can filter the report by time period, booking location, payment method, company, product and payment device.
| Filter | Description |
|---|---|
| Date selector | Filter the results by day, date or date range. |
| Booking location (sales channel) | Filter results by where the transaction was processed (eg POS, online checkout or Venue Manager) |
| Payment method | Filter results by the tender type used in transactions (eg cash, card, gift card, membership) |
| Product | Filter results by selected products. If you don't select any product filters, the report includes all products that have bookings in the selected date range, including archived products. When you choose "Select all", the report only shows active products for the time period selected. |
| Payment device | Filter by specific POS or self-serve kiosk device. |
Review overall metrics
At the top of the grid, you'll find an overview of important metrics for the selected time period and filters.
- Funds Received: The total value of actual processed transaction funds during the selected time period and filters. As this report is linked to a product's booking items, gratuities are not included.
- Fee Revenue: The total value of fees processed within the chosen time frame and filters.
- Tax Collected: The overall amount of tax gathered during the selected time period and filters.
- Discounts: The total value of redeemed discounts for the specified period and filters.
- Deferred Revenue*: The total change in deferred revenue for the period, as per the selected filters.
- Gift Card Deferred Revenue*: The total change in revenue from gift card deferred revenue for the specified period and filters.
- Accounts Receivable*: The total change in accounts receivable (amounts owed for redeemed or expired tickets) based on the selected filters.
- Gross Revenue*: The total recognized revenue for the period, including tax, as per the selected filters.
- Recognized Discounts*: The total value of recognized discounts for the period, as per the selected filters.
- Tax Payable*: The total tax included in gross revenue for the period that is payable now, based on the selected filters.
- Net Revenue*: The total gross revenue minus any discounts and tax for the period, based on the selected filters.
* These items appear in the report when using the accrual accounting method in ROLLER.
Three types of report entries
In the revenue recognition report for each booking item, you'll come across three types of entries.
| Entry type | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction | Payment or refund | Any payment or refund made to a booking. Whenever you handle a payment or issue a refund, it leads to the creation of a transaction event line item, which may have either a positive or negative value. |
| Recognition | Redemption &/or expiry of tickets for accrual accounting. Funds received for cash accounting. | A ticket is either redeemed at your venue or it expires based on the validity for the product. |
| Adjustment | The shift of funds between the various revenue accounts when changes are made to bookings, with all adjustments occurring on the date the booking changes are made. |
Adding or removing items to an existing booking alters the ticket count and affects how funds are distributed among booking items. |
For a booking, the entry types are recorded as separate line entries, with both negative and positive values to accurately show the flow of funds and balance each other out.
Available columns
To see columns that are not in the default grid view, right-click the grid, then select the columns you want. Then save the view so you can easily run the results you want again, or set as the default grid view.
Default columns available include:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Record Date | The date and time at which the transaction, recognition or adjustment entry occurred. |
| Entry Type | Whether the entry is a transaction, recognition or adjustment entry. |
| Booking ID | A booking's unique identifier. You can select the booking ID to open up further details about the booking or go to the booking order. |
| Product Name | Name of product sold or redeemed. |
| Funds Received $ | Payments received for the booking item/product for the record date. In this report, funds received are linked to the booking item products sold and as a result, gratuities are not included in payments received. |
| Tax Collected $ | Value of tax collected per booking item (on funds received). |
| Status | Payment status of the booking. |
| GL Code | Name of the reporting or general ledger category. |
| Deferred Revenue $ | The total revenue amount which is assigned as deferred revenue for the booking. Revenue is deferred when you have received the funds for a booking, but the booking item has not yet been redeemed at POS or has not yet expired. |
| Gift Card Deferred Revenue | This tracks revenue changes in gift card deferred revenue over a selected time period. When a gift card is purchased, the amount goes into gift card deferred revenue. When used to purchase a booking, that amount shifts to deferred revenue, with an adjustment to balance. As booking items are redeemed in venue, they move to the appropriate revenue columns. Note: Unused gift card balances won't expire due to regional regulations, remaining in the Gift Card Deferred Revenue column in ROLLER. |
| Accounts Receivable | The booking's total value of accounts receivable. These are the amounts owing for booking items that have been redeemed at POS or have expired, but have NOT yet been paid. |
| Gross Revenue $ | The amount of revenue recognized, inclusive of tax, based on accrual accounting. Revenue is recognized when a ticket is redeemed at POS or expires. For example, if a booking is expired and there is a partial payment, the amount that is paid goes from deferred revenue to gross revenue, and the balance that is not yet paid goes to accounts receivable. |
| Discount Recognized $ | The value of discounts relating to gross revenue. |
| Tax Payable $ | Tax value included in gross revenue and now payable. |
| Net Revenue $ | Gross revenue less tax payable. |
Right-click the table to view other columns available or export the report to see all columns.
Additional columns include:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Booking Location | The sales channel where the booking was created (eg online checkout). |
| Payment Device | The POS or SSK device used to create the booking. |
| Ticket Name | Name of the ticket sold or redeemed. |
| Discount | Value of the discount redeemed. |
| Fee Revenue | Total value of fees applied to the booking. |
| Tax % | The percentage tax rate applied to the booking items. |
| Transaction ID | A transaction's unique identifier. |
| Transaction location | Location where the transaction was captured (eg recurring billing) |
| Gateway ID | The unique identifier from the online gateway your venue uses |
| Ticket Quantity | The number of tickets linked to a booking item. |
| Company Name | Name of any company assigned to the booking. |
| Redeemed ticket quantity |
The quantity of tickets redeemed for the booking. Refunds/cancellations will result in a negative quantity. |
Download the report
You can download filtered results in the report as a CSV or Excel file. Select the download arrow in the top right, then follow the prompts to do so. Learn more
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between accounts receivable and deferred revenue?
Accounts receivable is the amount owing on a booking that has been redeemed or has expired. Deferred revenue is the amount paid on a booking that has not yet been redeemed at POS or expired.
Why is there a difference between tax payable and tax collected?
Tax payable is the tax on your recognized revenue and payable now (redeemed and expired items) and tax collected is the tax on funds received (regardless of whether the items have been recognized or not).
How are multi-use passes recognized in this reporting?
Currently, all revenue for multi passes will be recognized on the first redemption. So if you have a 10 use pass worth $100, all $100 will move from deferred revenue to recognized revenue upon the first redemption.