Set up deferred revenue journals for specific invoices

Use case

An invoice covers service across several months and your agreed accounting policy requires revenue to be recognised over that service period.

Introduction

Start with the specific invoice and the evidence for its service dates. xpnAi's Deferrals workflow uses booked amounts from the base-currency ledger, rather than assuming the invoice's gross or unpaid balance is the amount to defer. A paid invoice may still need a revenue-recognition schedule.

The standard workflow transfers the agreed revenue amount into a deferred-revenue liability, then releases it at month-end. If the source is already in that liability account, it can prepare releases without another initial transfer. See the xpnAi deferrals guide.

Prompts

Replace the example references and dates with your own, and confirm the recognition policy with your team.

1. Establish the source and policy

Use xpnAi's Deferrals guidance for [organisation]. Refresh its
Xero data and find invoice [INV-1042] for [customer].
Retrieve its booked base-currency accounting source and tracking.
Check related credits, existing deferral plans and prior adjustments.

The service period is 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027 inclusive.
Our proposed policy is equal monthly recognition over those 12 months.
Confirm the eligible amount, source account, deferred-revenue
liability account and initial journal date with me before preparing.

2. Preview the complete schedule

Prepare the agreed revenue-deferral plan for this invoice.
Preserve source tracking and use the confirmed account roles.
Show the initial transfer, every month-end release and the
projected deferred-revenue balance after each period.

Use the booked amount excluding separately booked tax; show the
NoTax treatment and cash-basis reporting choice for review.
Reconcile releases exactly to the amount deferred, including rounding.
Keep this as a proposal until I approve the exact plan revision.

3. Save the reviewed plan

Use this only after checking the full preview, including all future dates.

I approve [plan ID], revision [revision], exactly as previewed.
Save its entire schedule, including future-dated journals,
as Xero drafts now. Do not post journals.
Retain the source reference and the service-period evidence I supplied.
Return the verified draft journal links and report any unfinished work.

Output

The preview should show a complete liability roll-forward and the source invoice. After approval, the saved schedule contains dated Xero drafts. Drafts affect the ledger only when posted in Xero; this workflow does not wait until each month to create them. Custom release dates or catch-up adjustments require a separate agreed proposal.

For the expense side of the same idea, see prepayments for specific bills.