ASC 605 Revenue Recognition

Abstract

Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) 605, Revenue Recognition, contains ten subtopics. They include ASC 605-10, Overall; ASC 605-15, Products; ASC 605-20, Services; ASC 605-25, Multiple-Element Arrangements; ASC 605-28, Milestone Method; ASC 605-30, Rights to Use; ASC 605-35, Construction-Type and Production-Type Contracts; ASC 605-40, Gains and Losses ASC 605-45, Principal-Agent Considerations; ASC 605-50, Customer Payments and Incentives. A large percentage of financial reporting frauds over the period beginning about 1995 were the result of misapplications, often deliberate, of revenue recognition practices prescribed under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Accounting for service transactions has evolved primarily through industry practice, and as a result, different accounting methods have developed to apply the fundamental principles of revenue and cost recognition. ASC 605-35 describes the two generally accepted methods of accounting for long-term construction contracts: the percentage-of-completion method and the completed contract method.