The Revenue Recognition tab helps you align subscription revenue with the accounting periods in which it is actually earned, and shows the outstanding Deferred Revenue balance for un-earned prepaid subscriptions. It gives your finance team the numbers they need for ASC 606 / IFRS 15 style reporting without exporting raw orders and rebuilding the schedule by hand.
What the report shows
Open WooCommerce → Analytics → Subscription Report and switch to the Revenue Recognition tab. You will see three summary cards at the top and a per-month breakdown table below.
| Card | What it means |
|---|---|
| Cash Received | Total money collected from subscription orders in the selected date range. This is cash, not recognized revenue. |
| Revenue Recognized | The portion of that cash you have earned in the selected range, amortized over the billing period of each subscription order. |
| Deferred Balance (EOP) | The un-earned portion of prepaid subscription revenue still owed to customers as of the end of the selected period — the liability figure you would carry on your balance sheet. |
Monthly breakdown
Below the summary cards, the Monthly Breakdown table lists each month in the selected range with cash received, revenue recognized, and deferred balance carried forward. Use the Download CSV button to export the monthly breakdown for your accounting software or spreadsheet.
Per-order drill-down
Under the monthly table you will find the Per-Order section. Each row is a single subscription order and shows:
- Order ID and customer.
- Product or variation name.
- Payment date — when the order was paid.
- Subscription period start and end — the coverage window the payment relates to.
- Cash received, revenue recognized to date, and the remaining deferred balance for that order.
Click Export CSV in the per-order section to download every order with its payment date and subscription period. See Per-Order Deferred Revenue Export for the full column list.
How Revenue Recognition is calculated
Every paid subscription order is treated as prepaid revenue and amortized on a straight-line basis across the days between the subscription period start and period end. For each day in the period the same share of the order total is recognized as revenue.
- An annual $120 subscription paid on January 1 recognizes roughly $10 in each month of that year and carries the remaining balance as deferred revenue.
- A monthly $30 subscription paid on the 15th recognizes about half in the current month and half in the following month.
- If a subscription is cancelled mid-period, recognition stops on the cancel date. Future months are removed and the cancel month is prorated up to the cancellation day.
- Refunds are booked as a negative recognition entry in the month the refund was issued, so your net recognized revenue matches the money you actually kept.
First-time setup — import historical data
When you first open the Revenue Recognition tab on an existing store, the numbers will be zero because the recognition schedule has not yet been built for your historical orders. Run the importer from WooCommerce → Settings → Subscription Analytics and choose a date range (or All). The plugin replays every paid subscription order and builds the month-by-month recognition table in the background.
You only need to do this once. After the initial import, the plugin keeps the table in sync automatically as new orders are paid, refunded, or their subscriptions cancelled.
Filtering the report
- Use the date range picker at the top of the page to change the reporting window. The summary cards, monthly table and per-order table all follow the selected range.
- The Deferred Balance (EOP) card always reflects the deferred liability as of the last day of the selected range, so you can pick month-end, quarter-end, or year-end dates for closing entries.
- Use the per-order search box to narrow the drill-down table by product, customer, or order ID before exporting.
Frequently asked questions
Why does Cash Received not equal Revenue Recognized?
That is the point of the report. Cash is what you have collected; recognized revenue is what you have earned. The gap between the two is your Deferred Revenue — a liability until the coverage period is delivered.
What happens if a subscription is put on hold?
On-hold orders are not counted as paid, so no recognition rows are created. If an already-recognized order later moves to on-hold, its future recognition is removed.
What happens when a subscription is cancelled?
All months after the cancellation date are removed, and the cancel-month row is prorated down to the actual days lived. This matches ASC 606 — you only recognize what was delivered.
Do refunds change historical months?
No. Historical months are never rewritten. Refunds are booked as a negative recognition entry in the month the refund was issued, so your closed accounting periods stay intact.
Which order statuses count as paid?
Completed and Processing. Custom paid statuses can be added via the zorem_subscription_recognition_paid_statuses filter.