Can Negative Revenue Be Reclassified to Expense?

In recent months, global regulators have become active on the topic of reclassification of negative revenue to expenses under IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Ind AS 115 Revenue from Contracts with Customers). The purpose of this article is to help address this question and to clarify the authors’ view under Ind AS. This issue will require significant judgement and therefore formal consultation is desirable.

Payments to customers can take many different forms, including payments made by an entity to current customers (such as compensation for delays paid by an airline to its passengers), and payments or discounts provided by an entity to its customers’ customers. This issue is, therefore, closely linked to:

• Principal versus agent considerations;
• Determining who is(are) the current customer(s) (and the customer’s customer); and
• Whether payments or discounts granted to a customer’s customer are the result of contractual or implied promises to one’s direct customer (and, therefore, in the scope of Ind AS 115).

All of these have the potential to be judgemental assessments and will depend on the facts. Therefore, the application of the same requirements might look different between entities.