Question

On June 30, 2010, Microsoft Corporation was holding $4.8 billion of cash that it had collected from customers in advance for future software licenses and the future delivery of other products and services. In its financial statements, Microsoft classified and recorded this amount as

Answer 1

Answer: O the liability Unearned Revenue on its balance sheet.

Explanation:

Unearned Revenue is a liability that goes into the balance sheet to record the cash received for goods and/or services that the company have not delivered yet.

This is so that the company is not in violation of the Accrual Accounting concept known as the Revenue Recognition Principle that states that revenue should be recognised only in the period that they have been earned.

Microsoft in this scenario will record this cash as an Unearned Revenue and then consider it revenue when it has delivered the said goods and services.