Audit Lowe Down – What are contract assets and contract liabilities that arise under the revenue accounting standards?
Lowe Lippmann Chartered Accountants
What are contract assets and contract liabilities that arise under the revenue accounting standards?
Deferred revenue, accrued revenue, revenue received in advance, contract assets, contract costs asset, contract liabilities and receivables are all line items we see in the balance sheet in relation to revenue. It can be confusing to understand what these terms mean and whether different words are being used for the same thing.
We have provided a guidance to these and similar terms to enable you to use them confidently and understand their meaning in a balance sheet.
Please do not hesitate to contact your Lowe Lippmann Relationship Partner if you wish to discuss any of these matters further.
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Paid parental leave changes have now commenced As from 1 July 2025, the amount of Paid Parental Leave available to families increased to 24 weeks, and the amount of Paid Parental Leave that parents can take off at the same time has also increased from two weeks to four weeks. Superannuation will now also be paid on Government Paid Parental Leave from 1 July 2025, at the new super guarantee rate of 12%, paid as a contribution to their nominated superannuation fund. Parents will also benefit from an increase in the weekly payment rate of Paid Parental Leave, increasing from $915.80 to $948.10 (in line with the increase to the National Minimum wage). This means a total increase of $775.20 over the 24-week entitlement.
Contracts often include price variations relating to bonuses / penalties / rebates – why do we need to consider these early? Many revenue streams are covered by AASB 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers. The core principle of this standard is ‘that an entity shall recognise revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services.’ [emphasis added]. To determine what we expect to receive, all elements of the contract that are not fixed need to be reviewed. We need to review contracts for: Volume discounts Rebates Refunds Performance bonuses Penalties Price concessions Once we have identified variable consideration then we need to estimate the amount expected to be received using either: the expected amount using a probability weighted average of the likely outcomes or the most likely outcome. The method chosen is the one deemed to be the best estimate of the expected consideration, and the amounts may be updated at each reporting date. Once the consideration has been determined, the entity recognises only the revenue that is highly probable will occur – this is known as the constraint on revenue recognition. Practically, the requirements discussed above for variable consideration are relevant only where an entity satisfies the requirements for revenue recognition over time and contract crosses a reporting date. As the estimate of the variable consideration changes, there may need to be a catch-up adjustment on previous revenue recognition for that contract.
New Tax Agent Obligations from 1 July 2025 From 1 July 2025, “small” firms of tax practitioners (with 100 or less employees) must ensure they are complying with the eight new Code of Professional Conduct obligations from the Tax Practitioners Board ( TPB ). These new Code obligations were introduced by the Government under the Tax Agent Services (Code of Professional Conduct) Determination 2024. The new Code obligations have already commenced for large tax practitioners (with over 100 employees) from 1 January 2025. As tax agents, Lowe Lippmann Chartered Accountants are committed to upholding our professional and regulatory obligations, including with the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 which includes the Code of Professional Conduct as regulated by the TPB.
