How do I tie deferred revenue in my general ledger to the Deferred Revenue Waterfall?

The Advanced Revenue Summary and the Deferred Revenue Waterfall tie only when both group balances the same way. When they don't match, check each report's grouping first, then drill into the summary instead of running a separate detail report.

Scenario

“We book our monthly journal entries from the Advanced Revenue Summary, then share the Deferred Revenue Waterfall with stakeholders. This month the two don't match. How do we get them to tie?”

Why two reports can disagree

The two reports can disagree for two reasons:

• Different grouping. Deferred revenue and unbilled revenue are calculated for each group of records. Reports that group differently can produce different totals from the same data.
• Different record selection. A standalone waterfall selects records by item. If an invoice line and its revenue record use different items, one side can be counted without the other.

Match the grouping

In the Advanced Revenue Summary, Calculate By sets the grouping. If you use contracts for GAAP revenue recognition, select Customer, Contract, and Account.

To align the waterfall

1. Open the Deferred Revenue Waterfall's configuration.
2. Set its grouping to Customer Name, Contract Number, and Item Account.
3. Run both reports for the same period and compare the totals.

In one customer's case, making this change caused every month to tie, going back two years.

Drill down from the summary

Select a row or period in the Advanced Revenue Summary to drill into its detail. Drill-downs from the summary apply the account filter consistently, so their totals reconcile with the summary. Also keep the item on each invoice line consistent with the item on its revenue transaction.

Check your drilldown columns

The Drilldown Columns setting controls which fields appear in a drill-down. Extra fields can split results into more detailed rows, which makes detail totals differ from the summary. Review this setting if a drill-down doesn't match.