PwC Loyalty Programs - Revenue Recognition

www.pwc.com/us/insurance
New Revenue
Recognition Rules
How will they affect
loyalty programs?

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In May 2014, the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards
Board (FASB) and the International Accounting
Standards Board (IASB) jointly issued a converged
standard on revenue recognition. Almost all revenue-
generating entities (e.g., public, non-public, not-for-
profit) will be affected to some extent by the new
standard. The accounting for loyalty programs,
particularly for U.S. GAAP preparers, is likely to be one
area of significant change. The new guidance will result
in greater deferral of revenues, changes in balance
sheet liabilities, and additional financial statement
disclosures. Companies will need to account for points
issued as a separate obligation, which involves
developing more robust models to enable management
to comply with these new accounting requirements.
Specifically, companies will need to thoroughly
consider concepts such as redemption curves, breakage
estimates, and value of a point.
This paper provides an overview of the accounting
requirements in the new revenue recognition standard
for loyalty programs. Although the effective date of the
new revenue recognition standard is a couple of years
away, the efforts required to ensure compliance for
loyalty programs may be significant and will likely
impact many systems, processes, and policies.
General background
Since 2002, the FASB and IASB have been working on
a joint project to develop a new principles-based
revenue standard that applies across all industries. The
Boards have long recognized that current revenue
recognition requirements in generally accepted
accounting principles in the United States (U.S. GAAP)
differ from those in International Financial Reporting
Standards (IFRS), and both sets of requirements could
be improved. While U.S. GAAP includes broad revenue
recognition concepts, there are over 200 industry-
specific and prescriptive guidelines resulting in
different accounting for economically similar
transactions. In contrast, IFRS has been criticized for
not providing sufficient detail, which makes it difficult
to apply the current guidance to complex transactions
and to multiple-element arrangements.
The goal of the joint project was to improve financial
reporting by creating common revenue recognition
guidance for U.S. GAAP and IFRS that clarifies the
principles for recognizing revenue and that can be
applied consistently across various transactions,
industries, and capital markets. With the FASB’s
issuance of Accounting Standards Update
(ASU) 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with
Customers (Topic 606), and the IASB’s issuance of
IFRS 15, Revenue from Contracts with Customers,
such standardization should promote better
understanding and comparability across these
dimensions for financial statement users.
An essential concept embedded in the new standard is
the alignment of revenue recognition with the
satisfaction of performance obligations. It requires that
all the obligations of a contract with a customer
(verbal, written, or implied) be separately identified to
the extent they are distinct, with the price paid by the
customer allocated to each of those performance
obligations. Revenue is then recognized when each of
the performance obligations is transferred to the
customer.
Depending on the initial goods and services being
provided, the new guidance may or may not change the
pattern of revenue recognition. For normal product
sales in the retail and consumer markets for example,
the timing of revenue recognition might not change
significantly under the new standard as the transfer of
control of the goods to the customer typically occurs at
the same time as (or very close to) payment. Whatever
the initial good or services being provided though, the
consideration allocated to loyalty programs needs to be
deferred as it relates to future products and/or services
that will be purchased with an accumulation of earned
credits or points.
Another important concept included in the new
standard is the requirement to use a “relative
standalone selling price” to allocate the consideration
to the loyalty program awards/points.

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Current U.S. GAAP accounting for loyalty
programs
Under current U.S. GAAP, revenue recognition is
broadly addressed under Staff Accounting Bulletin
SAB 101: New Revenue Recognition Guidelines as well
as SAB 104: Revenue Recognition. Under these
guidelines, recognition of revenue is linked
intrinsically to the completion of the earnings process
as well as the transfer of the risks and rewards of
ownership to the end customer. As there were no
specific rules for loyalty programs, FASB’s Emerging
Issues Task Force (EITF) offered additional guidance
with Issue No. 00-22, Accounting for “Points” and
Certain Other Time-Based or Volume-Based Sales
Incentive Offers, and Offers for Free Products or
Services to Be Delivered in the Future. A related EITF
Issue (No. 01-9, Accounting for Consideration Given
by a Vendor to a Customer (Including a Reseller of the
Vendor’s Products) also provides guidance for GAAP
recognition of revenue for customer loyalty programs.
Under these guidelines, two dominant accounting
approaches have emerged in the U.S. to recognize and
measure loyalty program revenues and costs.
 Incremental Cost Model. Under this approach, a
company immediately recognizes revenue at the
time of the qualifying purchase (i.e., when points
are earned). At the same time, the company
records a liability for the cost associated with the
company's future obligation to its customers.
Divergent practices have emerged as to how this
cost is determined, ranging from incremental to
full-cost estimates. The program liability is
reduced for customer's redemption, forfeiture, or
expiration of accrued awards/points.
 Deferred Revenue or Multiple-Element Model.
Under this alternative approach, the issuance of
points is viewed as a separate component of a sale.
Therefore, a company defers the recognition of a
portion of its revenue, which is directly related to
the earning of loyalty points, to a future period in
which the customer either redeems the
awards/points or they are subject to forfeiture or
expiration. This approach often uses a fair value
approach (versus incremental cost) to calculate the
deferral amount.
Aside from the different revenue recognition
methodologies, both approaches establish a liability on
the balance sheet – "program liability" under the
incremental cost approach or "unearned program
revenue" under the deferred revenue model – between
the time points are earned by customers and the time
points are redeemed, forfeited, or expired. The liability
is established net of breakage under both approaches.
The amount of the liability, and therefore the impact
on a company's net income, is often larger under the
deferred revenue approach as the revenue associated
with rewards is typically greater than its costs,
particularly if only incremental costs are considered.
The new revenue standard is more consistent with the
deferred revenue model. It will likely result in later
revenue recognition for a portion of the transaction
price for those currently using an incremental cost
model – which happens to be the more prevalent
practice in the United States. In addition, the
transaction price allocated to the loyalty points could
be different using the relative standalone selling price
concept being introduced in the new standard, as
explained later in this paper.
Current IFRS accounting for loyalty programs
For companies accounting under international rather
the U.S. GAAP standards, IFRIC 13 was issued in 2007
(effective July 1, 2008) to provide more specific
guidance and to bring greater consistency regarding
the treatment of loyalty program liabilities. The two
major concepts underlying the application of IFRIC 13
to loyalty program accounting are:
 The issuance of credits or points must be
accounted for as a separate component of the sale
(similar to the performance obligation concept in
the new standard). In essence, this requires a
deferred revenue approach, whereby the income
statement immediately recognizes the portion of
revenue related to the sale of a good or service and
defers the remaining revenue allocable to the value
of loyalty points. This deferred revenue is
recognized when the loyalty points are redeemed,
forfeited, or have expired.
 The process of calculating the amount of deferred
revenue when issuing points must be based upon
the fair value of those points to the customer. This
guidance means that a company must defer the

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value of the points according to the value that
customers put upon them, using either the fair
value (a residual method) or relative fair value of
the points.
Although similar to the deferred revenue alternative
sometimes used under U.S. GAAP, IFRIC 13
additionally requires the use of a “fair value” concept in
valuing loyalty awards/points.
Because IFRS 15, Revenue from Contracts with
Customers, is generally aligned with the principles-
based concepts underlying IFRIC 13, transition to the
new standard for loyalty programs under IFRS will not
be as dramatic as it will be for some of the programs
currently following U.S. GAAP. However, there could
be differences in the allocation of the transaction price
to the loyalty component based upon the “relative
standalone selling price” compared to the guidance
currently provided under IFRIC 13. For example, the
use of a “residual value” approach allowed under
IFRIC 13 would be severely limited under IFRS 15.
New model Current U.S. GAAP Current IFRS
An option to acquire additional goods or
services gives rise to a separate
performance obligation if the option
provides a material right that the customer
would not receive without entering into
that contract. The revenue standard
requires management to estimate the
transaction price to be allocated to the
separate performance obligations and to
recognize a contract liability for the
performance obligations that will be
satisfied in the future.
The customer is paying for the future
goods or services to be received when the
award credits are issued in conjunction
with a current sale. The entity recognizes
revenue for the option when those future
goods or services are transferred to the
customer or when the option expires.
There is divergence in practice in U.S.
GAAP in the accounting for loyalty
programs. Two models commonly
followed are an incremental cost accrual
model and a deferred revenue model.
Under the incremental cost model,
revenue is typically recognized at the
time of the initial sale and an accrual is
made for the expected costs of satisfying
the awards credits. The multiple-element
model results in the transaction price
being allocated to the products or
services sold and to the award credits,
with revenue recognized as each
element is delivered. The incremental
cost model is more prevalent in practice.
Loyalty programs are accounted for
as multiple-element arrangements.
Some revenue, based on the fair
value of award credits, is deferred
and recognized when the awards are
redeemed or expire.
Revenue is allocated between the
good or service sold and the award
credits, taking into consideration the
fair value of the award credits to the
customer. The assessment of fair
value includes consideration of
discounts available to other buyers
absent entering into the initial
purchase transaction and expected
forfeitures.
Potential impact
The new revenue standard is consistent with the deferred revenue or multiple-element model currently required under IFRS,
so may have a greater impact on U.S. GAAP reporters. The transaction price is allocated between the product and the loyalty
reward performance obligations based on a relative standalone selling price. The amount allocated to the loyalty rewards is
recognized as a contract liability and revenue is recognized when the rewards are redeemed or expire. This will generally
result in later revenue recognition for a portion of the transaction price for those currently using an incremental cost model.
5-Step process required by the new standard
Identify the contract
with the customer
Identify the
performance
obligations
Determine the
transaction price
Allocate the
transaction price
Recognize revenue

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The core principle of the new revenue recognition
guidance is that an entity should recognize revenue to
depict the transfer of goods or services to a customer at
an amount that reflects the consideration to which the
entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those
goods or services.
In order to achieve this matching of revenue with the
transfer of promised goods or services to customers, an
entity should apply the following five steps.
It should be noted that while the revenue recognition
standard prescribes accounting for an individual
contract with a customer, it allows for application of
the guidance to a portfolio of contracts (or
performance obligations) with similar characteristics if
the entity reasonably expects that the effects on the
financial statements of applying this guidance to the
portfolio would not differ materially from applying this
guidance to the individual contracts (or performance
obligations) within that portfolio. When accounting for
a portfolio, an entity shall use estimates and
assumptions that reflect the size and composition of
the portfolio. This portfolio concept would likely apply
to loyalty programs.
Step 1: Identify the contract(s) with a
customer
Because the new standard applies only to contracts
with customers, the first step in the model is to
determine if a contract exist and whether that contract
is with a customer. A customer is a party that has
contracted with an entity to obtain goods or services
that are an output of the entity’s ordinary activities in
exchange for consideration (i.e., payment). A contract
is an agreement between two or more parties that
creates enforceable rights and obligations.
In many loyalty programs, it is clear that a contract
exists between an entity and its program members. In
some situations involving more than two parties,
however, it is less clear as to which counterparties are
“customers” and whether any performance obligations
exist. In fact, during the development of the new
standard there was considerable debate with financial
institutions about the implications for their credit card
reward programs which involve the financial
institution, the cardholder, and various merchants.
Although the bank grants award credits to the
cardholder based upon card usage (cardholder
agreement), the banks’ revenue actually comes from
the merchants who separately pay a fee to the bank
when a payment is made with a credit card (card
acceptance agreements). This issue was addressed by
the Transition Resource Group (“TRG”) from a U.S.
GAAP perspective with the consensus being that many
of these arrangements would be outside the scope of
ASC 606. Specific guidance on credit card fees exists in
ASC 310 and the TRG concluded that if the fees are
outside the scope of ASC 606, any associated loyalty
points would also be outside the scope of ASC 606.
Under IFRS however, no separate guidance exists in
respect of credit card fees so we expect banks to
continue to defer revenue in respect of credit card
loyalty programs.
Step 2: Identify the performance obligations 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
a bundle of goods or services to the customer, the
entity should account for each promised good or
service as a separate performance obligation if it is
distinct.
Loyalty programs typically result in a transaction
whereby a customer buys goods or services and is also
entitled to customer award credits. The customer can
redeem the credits for awards such as free or
discounted goods or services (e.g., hotel nights, flights,
retail goods, etc.). The award credits are a distinct
promise from the product or service initially purchased
so represent a separate performance obligation.
Step 3: Determine the transaction price
The transaction price is the amount of consideration
to which an entity expects to be entitled in exchange
for transferring promised goods or services to a
customer. For loyalty programs, determining the
overall transaction price for the performance
obligations is relatively straightforward. Its allocation
to the performance obligations within the contract
(e.g., product and loyalty program awards) is more
challenging, as discussed in the next step.
Interestingly, loyalty programs often involve an
implicit financing element, as the customer has paid in
advance for goods or services. For example, there may
be a significant delay between the payment (earning of

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awards/points) and performance (award redemption).
With particular relevance to loyalty programs,
however, is a “practical expedient” – where an entity
that is paid in advance for goods or services need not
reflect the effects of the time value of money when the
timing of transfer of those goods or services is at the
customer’s discretion. In such a case, it is understood
that the main purpose of the loyalty program is not to
provide a financing element.
Step 4: Allocate the transaction price to the
performance obligations in the contract
To allocate an appropriate amount of consideration to
each performance obligation, an entity must determine
the relative standalone selling price at contract
inception of the distinct goods or services underlying
each performance obligation and allocate the
transaction price in proportion to those standalone
selling prices. A standalone selling price is defined as
the price at which an entity would sell a promised good
or service separately to a customer. The best evidence
of a standalone selling price is the observable price of a
good or service when the entity sells that good or
service separately in similar circumstances and to
similar customers. A contractually stated price or a list
price for a good or service may be (but shall not be
presumed to be) the standalone selling price of that
good or services. If a standalone selling price is not
directly observable, an entity can estimate it as an
amount that would result in the allocation of the
transaction price meeting the same allocation objective
after considering all information (including market
conditions, entity-specific factors, and information
about the customer or class of customers) that is
reasonably available to the entity. Suitable methods for
estimating the standalone selling price of a good or
service include, but are not limited to, the following:
 Adjusted market assessment approach, e.g., using
competitor pricing, adjusted to reflect an entity’s
own costs and margins
 Expected cost plus a margin approach
 Residual approach – the total transaction price less
the sum of the observable standalone selling prices
of other goods or services. (This approach is only
allowed, however, when the good or service has not
previously been sold on a standalone basis or
where the selling price is highly variable and not
discernible from past transactions.)
For many loyalty programs, the transaction price of the
initial good or service is likely to be directly observable
(i.e., the price paid by the member for a hotel room,
flight, etc.). However, the standalone selling price of
the loyalty awards might require some estimation
(which could change over time) to consider potential
customer discounts, breakage, variability/change in
costs, etc. Even when an entity sells points directly to
customers for cash, these rarely represent a standalone
selling price. This is because points sold for cash are
typically intended to allow customers to top-up their
balance to obtain their desired redemption, so they are
usually priced at a premium and volumes available for
sale are generally restricted.
In the allocation process, the sum of the standalone
selling prices for the promised goods or services almost
always exceeds the contract’s total consideration,
implying a discount is embedded in the arrangement
because customers who are loyalty program members
very rarely pay extra to obtain their points. The
discount should be allocated to the separate
performance obligations based on relative standalone
selling prices, so that the discount is allocated
proportionately to all performance obligations.
Breakage
One very important aspect of determining the
standalone selling price of loyalty program
awards/points is to consider the likelihood that the
option will be exercised or “cashed in.” In developing
the standalone selling price of loyalty program
awards/points, the standard indicates that it should
reflect “breakage,” that is, the proportion of the total
earned points that will not be redeemed due to point
expiration, point balances below the minimum reward
level, and dormant or cancelled members. Breakage
can be a significant component in the calculation of
program obligations and is often estimated on an
aggregate level using actuarial methods based upon
historical redemption patterns.
Breakage is factored into the standalone selling price of
the points. The greater the expected breakage, the
lower the value of the points to the customer, which
leads to more consideration being allocated to the
initial goods or services. Anticipated breakage arising
from points not expected to be utilized is recognized as
revenue in proportion to the pattern of rights exercised
by the customer provided that the entity can reliably
estimate breakage and pass the variable consideration
constraint.

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The assessment of breakage should be updated each
reporting period. Changes in breakage estimates
should be accounted for by way of a cumulative catch
up adjustment to revenue.
Step 5: Recognize revenue when (as) the entity
satisfies a performance obligation
An entity should recognize revenue when (or as) it
satisfies a performance obligation by transferring a
promised good or service to a customer. In a loyalty
program, the majority of the revenue associated with
the initial product purchased is recognized
immediately, and the value of the loyal awards/points
is deferred until redeemed, forfeited, or expired.
The example to the right, from FASB’s Topic 606, was
created for Customer Loyalty Programs to illustrate the
five steps to conform to this standard.
Example 52 of FASB Topic 606, Revenue
from Contracts with Customers
An entity has a customer loyalty program that
rewards a customer with one customer loyalty point
for every $10 of purchases. Each point is redeemable
for a $1 discount on any future purchases of the
entity’s products. During a reporting period,
customers purchase products for $100,000 and earn
10,000 points that are redeemable for future
purchases. The consideration owed by the customers
is fixed, and the standalone selling price of the
purchased products is $100,000. The entity expects
9,500 points to be redeemed. The entity estimates a
standalone selling price of $0.95 per point (totaling
$9,500) on the basis of the likelihood of redemption.
The points provide a material right to customers that
they would not receive without entering into a
contract. Consequently, the entity concludes that the
promise to provide points to the customer is a
performance obligation. The entity allocates the
transaction price ($100,000) to the product and the
points of a relative standalone selling price basis
as follows:
Product: $91,324 [$100,000 x ($100,000
standalone selling price/$109,500)]
Points: $8,676 [$100,000 x ($9,500 standalone
selling price/$109,500)]
At the end of the first reporting period, 4,500 points
have been redeemed, and the entity continues to
expect 9,500 points to be redeemed in total. The
entity recognizes revenue for the loyalty points of
$4,110 [(4,500 points/9,500 points) x $8,676] and
recognizes a contract liability of $4,566 ($8,676 -
$4,110) for the unredeemed points at the end of the
first reporting period.
At the end of the second reporting period, 8,500
points have been redeemed cumulatively. The entity
updates its estimate of the points that will be
redeemed and now expects that 9,700 points will be
redeemed. The entity recognizes revenue for the loyal
points of $3,493 {[(8,500 total points
redeemed/9,700 total points expected to be
redeemed) x $8,676 initial allocation] - $4,110
recognized in the first reporting period}. The
contract liability balance is $1,073 ($8,676 initial
allocation - $7,603 of cumulative revenue
recognized).

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Principal vs. Agent
Determining whether an entity is either a principal or
agent in a loyalty program transaction is also
important in determining the appropriate accounting.
An entity usually recognizes revenue on a gross basis if
it is the principal in the arrangement and on a net basis
if it is an agent. An entity is typically the principal in an
arrangement if it obtains control of the goods or
services of another party in advance of transferring
control of those goods or services to a customer. The
entity is an agent if its performance obligation is to
arrange for another party to provide goods or services.
Points obligation resides with seller
An entity that issues loyalty points that it is responsible
for satisfying needs to evaluate whether it is an agent
or principal. Principals record gross revenue while
agents record only a net commission. Based on the
latest decisions by the Boards, the new guidance will
require entities to consider whether they are the
primary obligor, whether they bear inventory risk, and
whether they have latitude to determine prices.
Points obligation resides with another entity
In other cases, a seller may issue another entity’s
loyalty points as part of a sales transaction in return for
paying the other entity a portion of the consideration it
receives from the transaction. In this scenario the
seller is not responsible for providing redemptions and
its only obligation is to issue the points. Here the seller
is only acting as an agent of the entity who stands
behind the points obligation, and the seller receives a
commission for issuing the points. The fair value of the
points issued will typically be higher than the amount
of consideration passed on to the other entity, with the
difference representing the commission.
In practice, the seller usually satisfies its performance
obligation relating to the issuance of the points at the
same time as it provides the initial good or service to
the end customer. In this case the seller recognizes all
revenue on the same date and records the payment to
the other entity for the points issued as a deduction
from revenue.
Customer options – loyalty points
redeemable with another party
A retailer offers a customer loyalty program in
partnership with an airline that awards one air travel
point for each dollar a customer spends on goods
purchased from the retailer. Program members can
redeem the points for air travel with the airline. The
transaction price allocated to each point based on its
relative estimated standalone selling price is $0.01.
The retailer pays the airline $0.009 for each point
redeemed effectively retaining a commission of
$0.001.
The retailer sells goods totaling $1 million and grants
one million points during the periods. The retailer
allocates $10,000 of the transaction price to the
points, calculated as the number of points issued
(one million) multiplied by the allocated transaction
price per point ($0.01).
The retailer concludes that it is an agent in this
transaction in accordance with the guidance in the
new revenue standard.
How should the Retailer account for points issued to
its customers?
Analysis
The retailer measures its revenue as the commission
it retains for each point issued because it concluded
that it is an agent in the transaction. The commission
is $1,000, which is the difference between the
transaction price allocated to the points ($10,000)
and the $9,000 paid to the airline. The retailer will
recognize its commission when it transfers the points
to the customer (upon purchase of goods from
retailer) because the retailer has satisfied its
performance obligation by transferring control of the
air travel points to the customer.

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New disclosures
The new revenue recognition standard requires
additional qualitative and quantitative information
about loyalty programs regarding its contracts with
customers and significant judgments and changes in
judgments. Some entities already include information
about their loyalty programs within their financial
statement footnotes such as a description of the
program, recent changes, accounting policy, deferred
income, and information about the movement in the
number of points outstanding throughout the year.
The new standard has extensive new disclosure
requirements. The disclosures likely to be most
applicable to entities with loyalty programs are:
 Detailed information as to how the loyalty points
liability has moved during the year. Quantitative
information is required, so entities may determine
that the most appropriate way of complying with
this requirement is to reconcile the liability from
the opening to closing balance sheet carrying
amounts.
 In addition to the above, the standard specifically
requires information about how much revenue
recognized in a period was included within
deferred income at the previous year end, and the
amount of current year revenue that relates to
performance obligations satisfied in previous
years. This latter requirement will be particularly
relevant where an entity makes revenue
adjustments due to changes in breakage estimates.
 An estimate of the timing of satisfaction of the
loyalty points liability. This disclosure can be
either quantitative or qualitative.
 A disaggregated analysis of revenue recognized
during the year. Many programs have a wide range
of redemption partners which may lead to
additional line items in this analysis. Entities are
also required to provide a qualitative description of
the items they have promised to transfer to satisfy
their performance obligations, highlighting
arrangements in which they are an agent.
 Information about the methods, inputs and
assumptions used for estimating the stand alone
selling price of performance obligations (i.e. loyalty
points), and hence allocating the transaction price.
When designing systems and processes to handle the
accounting model required by the new guidance,
entities should also be mindful of the disclosure
requirements. The reqired disclosures are likely to
require entities to gather more disaggregated data than
may have been needed in the past.
Effective date and transition
Due to the pervasiveness of the standard and the
importance of reported revenues, the FASB and IASB
adopted a longer than typical transition period. Under
U.S. GAAP, public companies and non-public entities
will start applying the new revenue recognition rules in
2018 and 2019 respectively. U.S. GAAP reporters are
permitted to early adopt up to one year early. The
revenue standard is effective for entities that report
under IFRS beginning in 2018. IFRS has permitted
early adoption from the date that the standard was
issued.
The Boards also allowed two alternative methods for
the initial reporting under the revenue standard:
1. Full Retrospective Method – Retrospectively to
each prior reporting period presented, subject to
certain practical expedients. For public
companies, this approach would require
application of the new revenue recognition
standard to all contracts after January 1, 2018,
restatement of all contracts in 2016 and 2017, and
a cumulative adjustment (to opening retained
earnings) shown as of January 1, 2016.
2. Modified Retrospective Method – Retrospectively
with the cumulative effect of initially applying the
revenue recognition standard recognized at the
date of initial application. For public companies,
this approach would also require application of the
new revenue recognition standard to all contracts
open at January 1, 2018, with a cumulative
adjustment shown as of January 1, 2018; however,
it would not require restatement of 2016 and 2017
figures. Companies taking this relief would also
need to disclose the effect on 2018 figures of
applying the new revenue recognition standard for
each financial statement line item affected (i.e.
disclose 2018 revenue under old GAAP).
If accurate and consistent trending data is important
over the years, the full retrospective approach might be
the preferred approach as prior years’ financials would
be presented on a consistent basis with the current
period.

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While the modified retrospective transition method is
intended to reduce the time and effort in transition for
preparers, its requirement to disclose the impact to
each financial statement line item effectively results in
an entity applying both the new revenue standard and
the previous revenue guidance in the year of initial
application.
A further complication of the modified retrospective
method is that the original text only permitted
contracts that were not complete from a revenue
accounting perspective under previous GAAP to be
adjusted on transition. This would have resulted in
entities who previously accounted for loyalty programs
as cost accruals under U.S. GAAP being unable to
adjust the cost accrual to a revenue deferral on
transition, because under ASC 605 all revenue had
been recognized. Consequently, old points would have
remained cost accruals with new points issued being
revenue deferrals. The FASB has decided to amend the
standard to give entities the option to consider all
revenue contracts at transition under the modified
retrospective approach, not just those that were
incomplete under previous GAAP. Failure to elect this
option though will leave entities accounting for legacy
points differently to new points resulting in confusion
as to whether redemptions satisfty the old cost accrual
or result in revenue recognition. This issue does not
arise under IFRS because IFRIC 13 already requires
revenue deferral so revenue contracts containing
unredeemed loyalty points are not complete under
previous IFRS guidance.
Regardless of which method is used, an entity needs to
perform the calculations in order to compute the
cumulative catch-up entries.

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Conclusion
Although the effective date of the new revenue
recognition standard is a couple of years away (2018),
companies with significant loyalty programs may need
to consider the impact of the new standard on their
processes soon as the efforts required to ensure
compliance for loyalty programs may be significant. In
fact, depending on which transition rule is selected,
some information will need to be collected starting in
2016.
For many U.S. GAAP reporters, it is expected that the
deferral of loyalty program revenue is likely to
increase. Changes to this top-line metric for a company
can affect many other financial and operational
elements (e.g., key performance indicators, profits for
distribution, liabilities, commissions, bonus plans,
income taxes, debt covenants, etc.) and may require
re-examination of certain agreements.
Public companies need to begin communicating with
analysts and shareholders about the potential impact
of the new authoritative accounting guidance that has
been issued but not yet implemented. Getting an early
start on understanding and evaluating the impact of
the new revenue recognition standard will greatly ease
transition issues and allow management to be
proactive with its program rather than reactive. For
example, it may identify prospective changes in the
structure or provisions of their loyalty programs.
Contacts
For a more detailed discussion about revenue
recognition and analysis for loyalty programs, please
contact:
Brian Jones
Actuarial Principal
213-217-3407
brian.a.jones@pwc.com
Brett Cohen
Accounting Services Group Partner
973-236-7201
brett.cohen@pwc.com
John Kryczka
Actuarial Managing Director
312-298-3746
john.r.kryczka@pwc.com
Martin Menard
Actuarial Director
312-298-6165
martin.menard@pwc.com
Simon Whitehead
Accounting Services Group Senior Manager
973-236-4927
simon.j.whitehead@pwc.com

© 2016 PwC. All rights reserved. PwC refers to the US member firm or one of its subsidiaries or affiliates, and may sometimes refer to the PwC
network. Each member firm is a separate legal entity. Please see www.pwc.com/structure for further details.

PwC Loyalty Programs - Revenue Recognition

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