Step 1 — Set up your recognition policy
Go to Accounting → Settings → Policy and create a new policy (or open an existing one).
Configure the following settings:
Recognition method: Over time
Calculation: Manual
Book revenue to: Consulting Income
Balance sheet accrual: Deferred Revenue
Discount: Consulting Income Discount
Refunds: Consulting Income Refund
💡 Tip: The 'Manual' calculation is the key setting — it lets you pick an exact recognition date later instead of spreading revenue automatically.
Step 2 — Create and post your invoice
Create a new invoice with your customer, invoice date, due date, and amount. Set the revenue type to Transaction Revenue — this is how invoices typically come in from Stripe.
Example invoice:
Invoice date: Feb 1, 2026
Due date: Apr 30, 2026
Amount: $500,000
Revenue type: Transaction Revenue
Post the invoice when ready.
💡 Tip: The invoice starts as Transaction Revenue. You'll move it to Service Revenue in the next step.
Step 3 — Apply your policy in Revenue Recognition
Go to Revenue → Revenue recognition and search for your invoice (search by amount or customer name).
Apply your manual policy to the invoice. This will:
Move the invoice from Transaction Revenue → Service Revenue
Move it from the Unconfirmed tab to the Confirmed tab
💡 Tip: After applying, go back to the invoice and confirm it now shows 'Service Revenue' and a recognition period of 'Manual'.
Step 4 — Check the deferred state
In the Confirmed tab, find your invoice. You'll see the full amount sitting in Deferred for the invoice month.
This means the revenue hasn't hit your P&L yet — it's parked in a holding account until you tell the system when to recognize it.
💡 Tip: Nothing flows through to your P&L at this point. The amount stays deferred until you complete Step 5.
Step 5 — Set your recognition date
Next to the invoice amount in the Confirmed tab, click View and Manage, then click Recognize and Close.
On this screen:
Enter the amount to recognize (full invoice or a partial amount)
Pick the recognition date — this can be any past or present date
Click Close to save
Example: Recognize the full $500,000 on March 30, 2026.
💡 Tip: You can recognize a partial amount here — useful for milestone-based contracts. The remainder stays in Deferred until you come back to recognize another portion.
Step 6 — Verify on the P&L and GL (Refresh)
Refresh your dashboard. Revenue you recognize manually with Recognize and Close can take up to one hour to fully update in the General Ledger and subledger.
This up-to-one-hour delay applies only to revenue recognition postings like this one. It isn't a general delay for every change to your P&L.
Once updated, confirm:
Revenue on your dashboard has increased by the recognized amount
Clicking the amount opens the General Ledger
Switch to Accrual View — the entry date should match the recognition date you set in Step 5
💡 Tip: If the GL hasn't updated after an hour, try a hard refresh on the dashboard page.