When it comes to Zuora Revenue reporting, there is a lot of information to cover which is why we decided to devote two Table Talk sessions to this topic.
In February our first Revenue reporting session covered reporting best practices, revenue reporting and journal entries along with some examples. In this second session, we dive deeper into journal entries, diagnosing problems with reports using journal entries, and the Close Process Dashboard.
Watch full video | View presentation
Zuora Revenue Reporting Best Practices
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Feature
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Recommendation
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Benefits
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Reporting Summarization
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Real Time Mode
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No need to manually run the job ‘Reporting Summarize Current Period’. It is automated as part of every system process
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Period Open & Close Summarization
(Reporting Period Close / Reporting Period Open)
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Perform Close from Close Dashboard (CPD)
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No manual activity. 1-click close & open next period.
Zuora Revenue will automatically submit the period close & open summarization jobs as part of Close from CPD
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Next Period Summarization
(37.016 release)
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Run one a week, if your period open takes > 1 hour
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Reduce period open summarization time around 90%.
Applicable for high Volume customers.
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Post Period Summarization
(Current Period Post Summarize Data)
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Use only if applicable
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Required only if you use Trial Balance Report or any other report with ‘Aggregate Flag’ enabled in the layout.
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Report Layouts
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Limit to 30 columns or lower
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Faster running reports.
Review and remove columns that are not required from the specific report layout.
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Reporting Performance
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37.016 Release
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Expect 1.5 - 2x improvement on report run times with 37.016 release. The Row count has been moved to the Report Footer
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3 Facts about Revenue Reporting - Watch video to learn more
- Any reports needed to reconcile to the General Ledger are based on accounting journal entries.
- All Zuora Revenue Financial Reports are summarized view of journal entries
- Accounting Report or Journal Entries in the RC Workbench is where the journal entries live.
Journal Entries
Account Type - Watch video to learn more
Zuora Revenue allows customers to use attributes to segmentate the reporting instead of using traditional GL accounts by Account Type. Each Account Type can be related to multiple GL accounts and GL accounts number can be ingested through the transactions. The internal system hierarchy is define as transaction level account > Account Setup defined account
Account Type setup allows the user to define which accounting type the account is related to.
Schedules Type - Watch video to learn more
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Schedule Type Flag
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Description
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Revenue
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Contractual/Booking Revenue related journal entries
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Adjustments
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SSP Allocation Revenue related journal entries
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Variable Considerations
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Variable Considerations or SFC related journal entries
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Netting
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CA/CL reclassification related journal entries
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MJE
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Top Side MJE or LT/ST Reclass MJE related journal entries
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RC Link MJE
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MJE with RC link related journal entries
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Cost
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COGS or Direct Cost related journal entries
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Data Points - Watch video to learn more
Other data points related to journal entries to help user to understand the relationship between the reporting columns:
Sample Screenshot - Watch video to learn more
Diagnosing Reporting Issues with Journal Entries
Usually, users simply tie their reports to their GL and at the end of the day, that’s what we mostly care about. But what if your balance or report doesn’t match - that’s when you need to do more investigating as to why things are not not tying together. This is where you can dive deeper into your journal entries which provide a lot of information to help you research what might have happened to your contracts and your reports.
Watch Video: Diagnosing Reporting Issues with Journal Entries
RC Rollforward - Revenue Reporting
RC rollforward tells you a lot of information and is the subledger of your account balances. This report is a starting point of your reconciliation as it will give you your current revenue contract view and how much revenue you have left to recognize in your contracts.This is needed for reconciliations to tie out to the GL.
Chart 1: RC Rollforward Report Column Names. Applicable for right to bill flag = N
Watch video to learn more
Chart 2: Bucket meaning with the corresponding reports. Applicable for right to bill flag = N
Watch video to learn more
Chart 3: Accounting Entries Schedule Types. Applicable for right to bill flag = N
Watch video to learn more
Close Process Dashboard - Accounting Analysis Tab
Watch video to learn more
The accounting analysis tab in the Close Process Dashboard applies the same process as previously described to reconcile your revenue numbers, but it does so automatically - saving you a lot of manual effort.
The Close Process Dashboard provides reconciliation between Accounting & Revenue reports in real-time:
- Revenue for the Period (Insight & Waterfall Reports)
- RC Rollforward (Contract Liability)
- Unbill Rollforward
- Billing Rollforward
Visibility to Variance, if any caused by:
- Accounting holds/ Errors
- Summarization process
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