Revenue recognition

IFRS 15 applies one five-step model to every contract with a customer: identify the contract, identify the performance obligations, determine the transaction price, allocate it on relative stand-alone selling prices, and recognise revenue when (or as) each obligation is satisfied by transfer of control. Variable consideration is constrained, contract costs are capitalised under IFRS 15.91-104 and the balance sheet shows contract assets and contract liabilities. Effective for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2018; the IASB's post-implementation review concluded in September 2024 that the standard works as intended.

ASC 606 was issued jointly with IFRS 15 and carries the same five-step model, so outcomes are the same for most contracts. The remaining differences are narrow but real: collectability must be 'probable' in the US sense, licence renewals cannot be recognised before the renewal period starts, non-cash consideration is measured at contract inception, entities may elect to treat shipping and handling as fulfilment and to exclude all sales taxes from the transaction price, contract-cost impairments are never reversed, and non-public entities get disclosure relief. Effective for public business entities from annual periods beginning after 15 December 2017, other entities a year later (further deferred by ASU 2020-05 for some).

The RJ deliberately did NOT adopt IFRS 15. RJ 270 keeps a risks-and-rewards model for goods and a stage-of-completion model for services, and RJ 221 keeps percentage-of-completion for construction-type projects. Via RJ-Uiting 2020-15 the RJ bolted IFRS 15-inspired guidance onto that model for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2022: identifying performance obligations (RJ 270.109), allocating the price (270.109c), variable consideration (270.106a), financing components (270.107), principal versus agent (270.105b), licences (270.123-126), returns (270.112) and contract modifications (270.129-130). Since 2018 an entity may instead apply IFRS 15 in full as a policy choice (RJ 270.101a). Cells below describe the default RJ model; the IFRS 15 option removes the difference where taken.

Two tiers. Public-interest entities (KAYİK) apply TFRS 15, a verbatim translation of IFRS 15 with identical paragraph numbers, effective 1 January 2018. Other audited entities apply BOBİ FRS (2021 Sürümü), whose Bölüm 5 Hasılat is an IAS 18 / IAS 11 style chapter: revenue on goods when significant risks and rewards pass (BOBİ FRS 5.14), services and construction contracts by percentage of completion, and interest, royalties and dividends inside the same chapter. **Status in each cell follows the BOBİ FRS tier**, because the TFRS tier is aligned with IFRS in every facet and each cell says so explicitly.

HGB has no revenue standard. Revenue follows the Realisationsprinzip in § 252 Abs. 1 Nr. 4 HGB: a gain is recognised only when it is realised, which in practice means when the seller has performed and the risk has passed to the customer (delivery for goods, acceptance for work contracts). Percentage-of-completion is generally not permitted; a long-term contract sits in inventory at Herstellungskosten with no profit until acceptance, unless legally separable partial deliveries are accepted. Umsatzerlöse are defined broadly by § 277 Abs. 1 HGB since BilRUG, and customer prepayments are shown as erhaltene Anzahlungen under § 266 Abs. 3 C Nr. 3 and § 268 Abs. 5 HGB.

Post Periodic Review 2024, for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2026, Section 23 is a five-step model aligned with IFRS 15, with what the FRC calls 'a number of accommodations to make the five step model proportionate for FRS 102 preparers' and a shorter disclosure list; transition may be fully retrospective or modified retrospective. Pre-2026, Section 23 was the old IAS 18 / IAS 11 model: goods on transfer of risks and rewards, services and construction contracts by stage of completion. That rule still governs comparatives not restated and any late adopter.