# Revenue numbers do not match what you expected to see

Revenue recognition can be complex. When seeing the reports for the first time, you may find that some numbers do not match what you expected to see.
Stripe's Revenue recognition follows [ASC 606](https://www.fasb.org/jsp/FASB/FASBContent_C/CompletedProjectPage&cid=1175805486538) guidelines. Here are some nuances relating to how we recognise your revenue:
* We recognise revenue as soon as an invoice is finalised. Specifically, we debit AccountsReceivable and credit DeferredRevenue upon invoice finalisation. Revenue will be recognised based on the service period of the invoice, regardless of whether the invoice is paid.
* We debit Cash and credit AccountsReceivable when an invoice is paid.
* If an invoice is finalised but not yet paid, its revenue will continue to be recognised. If you believe an invoice is uncollectible, it needs to be marked explicitly as uncollectible for its revenue to be cancelled out. Please see the detailed example of an [uncollectible invoice](https://stripe.com/docs/billing/revenue-recognition/examples#uncollectible).
  * You might find it useful to enable the setting to automatically mark an invoice as uncollectible if it still unpaid after all retries have been attempted. Please see: [Updating the invoice status for failed automatic collections](https://stripe.com/docs/billing/automatic-collection#updating-the-invoice-status-for-failed-automatic-collections).
* The revenue from a charge that is _not_ associated with an invoice will be recognised immediately at the payment time.
* The revenue from an invoice (or an invoice line item) that has unspecified service periods will be recognised immediately when the invoice is finalised.
There are [m](https://stripe.com/docs/billing/revenue-recognition/examples)[any other useful examples](https://stripe.com/docs/billing/revenue-recognition/examples) (e.g. refund, dispute, winning dispute) that you might find interesting.
Below are a few common root causes that might be applicable:
* When past due invoices are not marked as uncollectible, revenue from these invoices is still counted. As a result, your revenue numbers may appear to be higher than you expected. You can see all your past due invoices on [the Invoice list page](https://dashboard.stripe.com/invoices?past_due=true). If they are old invoices, you will want to mark them as uncollectible.
* When invoices have unspecified service periods, revenue for those invoices is not amortised. The revenue is immediately recognised when the invoice is finalised. To rectify this, you can use [the transaction overrides feature](https://stripe.com/docs/billing/revenue-recognition/overrides) to assign a service period to an invoice. (Note that invoices created by subscriptions will have service periods specified automatically.)
* If you are creating charges instead of invoices, the revenue for the charges is immediately recognised when the charges occur. To rectify this, you can migrate to [Stripe Billing](https://stripe.com/docs/billing), so new invoices will be created in Stripe. Please contact us if you have any questions regarding Stripe Billing. As a workaround, you can use [the transaction overrides feature](https://stripe.com/docs/billing/revenue-recognition/overrides) to set the service periods for all of your past charges and continue to do so as charges occur in the future.
* If you have both a charge and a marked-as-paid invoice that represent the same real-world transaction, this will double-book revenue because Stripe would not know that the invoice and the charge are related. To rectify this, there are two recommended steps:
  * You can update your integration to link the charge to the invoice correctly in the future.
  * For existing charges and invoices, you can exclude the marked-as-paid invoice and set a service period for the charge using [the transaction overrides feature](https://stripe.com/docs/billing/revenue-recognition/overrides).
If you're experiencing an issue unrelated to the above, please contact us via [support+revenue-recognition@stripe.com](http://stripe.com) and our experts will help you to investigate.