what is accrued and deferred revenue 
accrued revenue is the revenue earned by a company for the delivery of goods or services that have yet to be paid by the customer in accrual accounting revenue is reported at the time a sales transaction takes place and may not necessarily represent cash in hand deferred or unearned revenue can be thought of as the opposite of accrued revenue in that unearned revenue accounts for money prepaid by a customer for goods or services that have yet to be delivered if a company has received prepayment for its goods it would recognize the revenue as unearned but would not recognize the revenue on its income statement until the period for which the goods or services were delivered the bottom linerevenue is the money an entity brings in from its normal business activities such as selling its products or services over a specified period of time such as a quarter or year it s the company s gross proceeds before subtracting any expenses and is reported on the top line of its income statement revenue is one of the many metrics investors look at when deciding whether to invest in a company growth stocks for example would be expected to rapidly grow their sales whereas defensive income stocks would be expected to report steady revenues for businesses in general the goal is to grow revenues while keeping the cost of production or service as low as possible 