Basic Gift Card Revenue Recognition Companies cannot recognize revenue upon the initial sale of a gift card because of a key revenue recognition principle that states that revenue is recognized when or as an entity satisfies a performance obligation by transferring a promised good or service to a customer. What does that mean? When a gift card is purchased, your company should not record revenue instead, the purchase of the gift card is recorded as a liability because you have an obligation to provide services or goods at a later point in time. However, for federal income tax purposes, revenue is generally recognized when it s earned, due, or collected whichever comes first this means that revenue from gift card sales is recognized in taxable income when the gift card is sold rather than when it s redeemed. The recognition of the sale of a gift card is straightforward. When a company sells a gift card, the cash it receives is recognized as a liability until the gift card is redeemed for goods or services. Upon redemption, then the company reverses the liability and recognizes the revenue. Join the Compliance Week community When the card is sold, the company debits cash and credits a corresponding gift card liability. As cards are redeemed, the liability is debited and revenue is recognized as a credit to sales, but what about the unused portions of gift cards, known in the industry as breakage? Butler, Samuel Another potent form of distribution is franchising and or chaining. When a successful store concept is branded and systemized, it can be replicated and sold to other individuals. Savvy Fastlane entrepreneurs recognize that a successful local business with weak leverage can be made highly leveraged by franchises or chains. Does this path sound familiar? It should this is what Starbucks did to become the biggest coffee chain in the world. Reviewing third-party products for selling through social media The response rate for ads like this is pitiful. This is the secret that marketers know a single ad, no matter how well produced, no matter how compelling, is almost never enough to sell your product. To put this into positive terms Frequency works . For more detailed directions and suggested tactics for both boosting posts and advertising on Facebook, see Book 5, Chapter 3 .