Question

Access the FASB Standards Codification at the FASB website (www.fasb.org).

Required:

Determine the specific citation for accounting for each of the following items:

1. On what basis is a contract’s transaction price allocated to its performance obligations?
2. What are indicators that a promised good or service is separately identifiable from other goods and services promised in the contract?
3. Under what circumstances is an option viewed as a performance obligation?

	Requirement Topic Subtopic Section Paragraph 1 606 10 2 3

Answer 1

1. On what basis is a contract’s transaction price allocated to its performance obligations?

For a contract that has more than one performance obligation, an entity should allocate the transaction price to each performance obligation in an amount that depicts the amount of consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for satisfying each performance obligation.

To allocate an appropriate amount of consideration to each performance obligation, an entity must determine the standalone selling price at contract inception of the distinct goods or services underlying each performance obligation and would typically allocate the transaction price on a relative standalone selling price basis. If a standalone selling price is not observable, an entity must estimate it. Sometimes, the transaction price includes a discount or 5 variable consideration that relates entirely to one of the performance obligations in a contract. The requirements specify when an entity should allocate the discount or variable consideration to one (or some) performance obligation(s) rather than to all performance obligations in the contract.

An entity should allocate to the performance obligations in the contract any subsequent changes in the transaction price on the same basis as at contract inception. Amounts allocated to a satisfied performance obligation should be recognized as revenue, or as a reduction of revenue, in the period in which the transaction price changes.

2. What are indicators that a promised good or service is separately identifiable from other goods and services promised in the contract?

A performance obligation is a promise in a contract with a customer to transfer a good or service to the customer. If an entity promises in a contract to transfer more than one good or service to the customer, the entity should account for each promised good or service as a performance obligation only if it is-

(1) distinct or

(2) a series of distinct goods or services that are substantially the same and have the same pattern of transfer.

A good or service is distinct if both of the following criteria are met:

1. Capable of being distinct—The customer can benefit from the good or service either on its own or together with other resources that are readily available to the customer.

2. Distinct within the context of the contract—The promise to transfer the good or service is separately identifiable from other promises in the contract. A good or service that is not distinct should be combined with other promised goods or services until the entity identifies a bundle of goods or services that is distinct.

3. Under what circumstances is an option viewed as a performance obligation?

If, in a contract, an entity grants a customer the option to acquire additional goods or services, that option gives rise to a performance obligation in the contract only if the option provides a material right to the customer that it would not receive without entering into that contract (for example, a discount that is incremental to the range of discounts typically given for those goods or services to that class of customer in that geographical area or market). If the option provides a material right to the customer, the customer in effect pays the entity in advance for future goods or services, and the entity recognizes revenue when those future goods or services are transferred or when the option expires.