IFRS 15 Retail – the finest perfect examples

IFRS 15 Retail revenue – finest perfect examples

Retail is the process of selling consumer goods or services to customers through multiple channels of distribution to earn a profit. Retailers satisfy demand identified through a supply chain. The term “retailer” is typically applied where a service provider fills the small orders of many individuals, who are end-users, rather than large orders of a small number of wholesale, corporate or government clientele. (Source: Wikipedia)

So what is the IFRS 15 guidance for retail?

Here are the cases covering the most significant accounting topics for retail in IFRS 15.


Case – Customer incentives Buy three, get coupon for one free

Death By Chocolate Ltd, a high street chain, is offering a promotion whereby a customer who purchases three boxes of chocolates at €20 per box in a single transaction in a store receives an offer for one free box of chocolates if the customer fills out a request form and mails it to them before a set expiration date.

Death By Chocolate estimates, based on recent experience with similar promotions, that 80% of the customers will complete the mail in rebate required to receive the free box of chocolates.

How is a ‘buy three, get one free’ transaction accounted for and presented by Death By Chocolate?

The rules

IFRS 15.22 states: “At contract inception, an entity shall assess the goods or services promised in a contract with a customer and shall identify as a performance obligation each promise to transfer to the customer either:IFRS 15 Retail

  1. a good or service (or a bundle of goods or services) that is distinct; or
  2. a series of distinct goods or services that are substantially the same and that have the same pattern of transfer to the customer (see paragraph 23).”

IFRS 15.26 provides examples of distinct goods and services, including “granting options to purchase additional goods or services (when those options provide a customer with a material right, as described in paragraphs B39-B43)”.

IFRS 15.B40: “If , in a contract, an entity grants a customer the option to acquire additional goods or services, that option gives rise to a performance obligation in the contract only if the option provides a material right to the customer that it would not receive without entering into that contract (for example, a discount that is incremental to the range of discounts typically given for those goods or services to that class of customer in that geographical area or market).

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IFRS 15 Real estate Revenue complete and accurate recognition

IFRS 15 Real estate

Under IFRS 15 real estate entities recognize revenue over the construction period if certain conditions are met.

Key points

  • An entity must judge whether the different elements of a contract can be separated from each other based on the distinct criteria. A more complex judgment exists for real estate developers that provide services or deliver common properties or amenities in addition to the property being sold.
  • Contract modifications are common in the real estate development industry. Contract modifications might needIFRS 15 Real estate to be accounted for as a new contract, or combined and accounted for together with an existing contract.
  • Real estate managers may structure their arrangements such that services and fees are in different contracts. These contracts may meet the requirements to be accounted for as a combined contract when applying IFRS 15.
  • Real estate management entities are often entitled to several different fees. IFRS 15 will require a manager to consider whether the services should be viewed as a single performance obligation, or whether some of these services are ‘distinct’ and should therefore be treated as separate performance obligations.
  • Variable consideration for entities in the real estate industry may come in the form of claims, awards and incentive payments, discounts, rebates, refunds, credits, price concessions, performance bonuses, penalties or other similar items.
  • Real estate developers will need to consider whether they meet any of the three criteria necessary for recognition of revenue over time.

IFRS 15 core principle

The core principle of IFRS 15 is that revenue reflects the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services.

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Variable consideration in transaction price and 4 best examples

Variable consideration in transaction price IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers (contents page is here) introduced a single and comprehensive framework which sets out how much revenue is to be recognised, and when. The core principle is that a vendor should recognise revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the vendor expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. See a summary of IFRS 15 here. Variable consideration in transaction price This section is part of step 3 determining the transaction price. Instead of the amount of consideration specified in a contract being fixed, the amount receivable by a vendor may be … Read more

Constraining estimates of variable consideration

Constraining estimates of variable consideration – One of the most significant departures from prior GAAP is the treatment of variable consideration. In the past, revenue could only be recognized in the amount of the fixed or determinable portion of the sales price, not any variable consideration. The new revenue standard is instead based on the core principle that revenue is the amount the company expects to receive based upon the contract. It allows a company to recognize estimated variable consideration as revenue subject to a “constraint” rule, which stipulates that the estimated amount must be adjusted downward to exclude any amount for which it is “probable” (U.S. GAAP) or “highly probable” (IFRS) that a significant reversal will occur. Constraining estimates … Read more

Contract modifications and variable consideration 1 best 2 complete

Contract modifications and variable consideration are sometimes not easy to distinguish from one another. So here is a discussion bringing them together. IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers (contents page is here) introduced a single and comprehensive framework which sets out how much revenue is to be recognised, and when. The core principle is that a vendor should recognise revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the vendor expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. See a summary of IFRS 15 here. Contract modifications and variable consideration Contract modifications A contract modification arises when the parties approve a change in the … Read more

Technology reseller arrangements

Technology reseller arrangements IFRS 15 also changed practice for entities that sell their products through distributors or resellers (collectively referred to in this section as resellers). It is common in the technology industry for entities to provide resellers with greater rights than end-customers. For example, an entity may provide a reseller with price protection and extended rights of return. Under IFRS 15, entities will need to first evaluate when control of the product transfers to the end-customer. To do this, first, entities may need to assess whether their contracts with resellers are consignment arrangements, under which control likely would not transfer until delivery to the end-customer (see Consignment arrangements). The standard provides three indicators that an arrangement is a consignment … Read more

Assessing collectibility for a portfolio of contracts

Assessing collectibility for a portfolio of contracts – In the first step in IFRS 15 Revenue from contract with customers ‘Step 1 Identify the contract with the customer’, five elements have to be present in order to have a contract (Step 1 Identify the contract with the customer), on being that it is probable that the entity will collect substantially all of the consideration to which it will be entitled in exchange for the goods or services that will be transferred to the customer. Assessing collectibility for a portfolio of contracts Recognising whether a contract exists requires some evaluation of the customer, and if collection is likely to occur. For example, the amount of consideration likely to be collected does … Read more

The five contract identification criteria

IFRS 15 9 Revenue from Contracts with Customers is applied to contracts with customers that meet all of the five contract identification criteria

Highly probable

IFRS Definition Highly probable: Significantly more likely than probable. IFRS Definition Probable: More likely than not. And other probability qualifications