Revenue Schedules
Count income from an upfront invoice month by month instead of all at once.
Use Sales → Revenue Schedules when a customer pays upfront for something you deliver over time: an annual subscription, a prepaid support plan, or a multi-month project. The invoice is issued once; the income is counted in the months you earn it.
Before you start
Each counted period moves income out of account 2300 and into account 4000 (Sales Revenue). In the standard Anchor chart, 2300 is Accrued Expenses, not a deferred income account, and 2400 Unearned Revenue is not used by schedules. Until this is changed, a schedule only balances if the invoice line was coded to 2300. Check with your accountant before using revenue schedules, or code the invoice line to 2400 Unearned Revenue and spread it with an accrual instead.
Create a schedule
- On Sales → Revenue Schedules, click New schedule.
- Under Schedule Details, choose the Invoice, the Total amount to spread, the Method, and the Start Date and End Date.
- Click Create revenue schedule.
Anchor creates one period per month from the start month to the end month and splits the total evenly (the last month takes any rounding difference).
The Method list also offers By milestone and All on completion. Anchor records the method on the schedule, but currently builds the same even monthly periods for all three. For milestone or completion-based income, count the periods when the milestone is reached, or post the entry manually.
Count each period
Open the schedule and click Count next period. Anchor posts debit 2300, credit 4000 for the next uncounted month and marks it Counted. Periods are not counted automatically; do this as part of month-end.
The schedule shows the Total, what is Counted so far and what is Left to count. When every period is counted it moves to Finished.
Cancel a schedule
Cancel schedule stops any further income being counted. Periods already counted stay in your books. You cannot undo a cancel.
Related
- Accruals: spread a cost or income that is not tied to an invoice
MCP tools
list_revenue_schedules, get_revenue_schedule, create_revenue_schedule, recognize_revenue_entry, cancel_revenue_schedule.