Software Industry Accounting, 1998 Special Report

Book excerpt: The rules and regulations governing accounting of the software industry are very different from other industries. The software industry has unique accounting concerns, such as capitalization of development costs and software revenue recognition. Detailed implementation guidance is provided for all rules and regulations. This special report covers the recently released AICPA Statement of Position 97-2, Software Revenue Recognition. This statement was developed to address the shortcomings of SOP 91-1 and establishes an overall framework from which constituents must develop more specific revenue recognition practices. SOP 97-2 addresses the accounting for revenue earned from licensing, selling, and otherwise marketing of software.