Recognition Schedules are policies a company uses for recording expenses or revenue (in other words, what periods, quarters, or years to assign amounts to). You can manage your company’s Recognition Schedules in the Recognition Schedule application, which is in the Automation module.

While there are several preconfigured Recognition Schedules included in Centage, you also have the ability to create your own custom Recognition Schedules.  When you are creating and editing data projections in the Worksheets modules, you can select Recognition Schedules for specific Properties.

 

 Please Note: Centage’s Recognition Schedules, Payment Schedules, and Receivable Schedules all work together. Recognition Schedules assign an amount to certain periods, quarters, or years. Payment and Receivable Schedules decide which GL Accounts are debited and credited for transactions according to a certain Recognition Schedule.

You can manage your Payment and Receivable Schedules through the Automations module.

Some examples of how Recognition Schedules can be applied include:

• Setting up a schedule for employee bonuses
• Expense that is paid at the beginning of the year, but you would like the amount to impact the Income Statement for all periods of the year

This document shows you, a Centage user, how to add, edit, and delete Recognition Schedules.

Please Note: Centage offers option of fiscal calendar with 12 periods or 13 periods. Periods available for a Year will apply based on your Plan's Time Dimension. If you use a 13-period fiscal calendar and want to create a Recognition Schedule that spreads amounts over quarters, see the Adding Quarterly Recognition Schedules with 13 Periods section of this document.

 

Locating Recognition Schedules

To access the Recognition Schedules page, click Automations on the left menu bar and select Recognition Schedules.

The Recognition Schedules page provides a list of Recognition Schedules.  These are displayed in a table with one row for each method and columns to display the settings for the properties of that method, including Accrual, Accrual Periods, and Start Type. 

• Click the arrows in the columns to sort in ascending or descending alphabetical order by that property.
• Click +Add button to open the Recognition Schedule definition page to create a new Recognition Schedule.
• Use the Search field in the top right of the page to search for a specific Recognition Schedule.
• Click the button Action column to see activity options 
  • Eye icon to View the definition for Centage's standard Recognition Schedules
  • Pencil icon to View or Edit the definition of custom Recognition Schedules
  • Trashcan icon to Delete custom Recognition Schedules

Standard Recognition Schedules

There are ten standard Recognition Schedules available to all Centage users.

Even (Year) – Divides the amount evenly to all the periods in the year.

 Example: $12,000 is recognized as $1,000/period for a 12-period fiscal calendar and $923/period for a 13-period fiscal calendar.

Immediate – Recognizes the entire amount immediately, within the period of the date of the transaction.

 Please Note: The MACRS recognition schedules are an industry standard for depreciation. Centage records the exact percentage for each year for each MACRS Recognition Schedule (for example, 5.3% recognized the first year of the schedule).

MACRS – 10 (Half Year) – This schedule uses the MACRS (Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System) Depreciation Table as a recognition schedule. The 10 (Half Year) schedule recognizes varying percentages of the amount each year over 10 years.

MACRS – 15 (Half Year) – Recognizes varying percentages of the amount each year over 15 years.

MACRS – 20 (Half Year) – Recognizes varying percentages of the amount each year over 20 years.

MACRS – 3 (Half Year) – Recognizes varying percentages of the amount each year over three years.

MACRS – 5 (Half Year) – Recognizes varying percentages of the amount each year over five years.

MACRS – 7 (Half Year) – Recognizes varying percentages of the amount each year over seven years.

One Period (30 Days) – Recognizes an amount 30 days after the transaction date.

Two Period (60 Days) – Recognizes an amount 60 days after the transaction date.

Recognition Schedule Definition

For each Recognition Schedule, you can view the selections for properties on the Recognition Schedule definition page. 

1. Name – Enter a name.  This will be displayed on the drop-down menu where users select Recognition Schedules for Properties of data projections.
2. Description (optional) – Enter a description or purpose.
3. Accrual– Toggle this option on to enable Accrual.  This option is toggled off by default.

   When this is toggled on, the Accrual Periods is displayed. Use the + or - button to indicate the number of periods for the amount to accumulate. The default value is 12.

   Example: If the amount for a quarterly bonus is the total of three periods, then you would select 3 for Accrual Periods.

4. Spread Over – Click on the dropdown menu to select the total time frame the amount will spread into.  The default selection is Year.
   • Year – amount is spread over a year.
   • Quarter of Year – amount is spread over a quarter.
   • Period of Year – amount is spread over a single period.
5. Spread Over Length – Use the + or - button to indicate the number of periods in Spread Over to apply the spread.  The default value is 1.  Case: If you select Year for Spread Over and 2 for Spread Over Length, the amount will spread over two years.
6. Spread By – Click on the dropdown menu to select one of the following options to indicate how the amount will spread into periods of the option selected for Spread Over. The default selection is Period of Year.  Case: if you chose to Spread Over Quarter of Year, your choices are Quarter and Period.
   • Period of year – spread the amount to periods.
   • Quarter of year – spread the amount to quarters.
   • Year – spread the amount to a year.

   • Please Note: The graph and grid on the left side of the page provide visuals for how your selections for Spread Over, Spread Over Length and Spread By will be applied to data projections.

     The graph and grid below is displayed when the selections are:

     • Spread Over: Year
     • Spread Over Length: 2
     • Spread By is Quarter of Year

     

7. Spread Type – Click on this dropdown menu to select how to distribute amounts to periods. The default selection is Custom.
   • Custom – type values for periods.
   • Even – spread the amount evenly to periods.
8. Start Type – Click on this dropdown menu to indicate control factor to determine start period for the spread. The default selection is Hierarchy.
   • Hierarchy –  align periods for the spread to how they are defined in the Time Dimension. Case: If your Time Dimension is set to Fiscal Year Start in July, then P1 for the spread is July.
   • Data Projection – align the first period to the Start Date of the data projection.  Case: If your Time Dimension is set to Calendar Year and the Start Date for the data projection is March 1, then the spread will start applying in P3 as the first period.
9. Input Method – choose an option for basis to enter values into periods.
   1. Weight   –  enter weight values for each period.  The Percent column is calculated automatically.
   2. Percentage  – enter percent values for each period. Centage enforces that the total for all periods is 100%.
10. Input Grid – enter values for the periods.
11. Save & Exit – click to save selections.

Create a Recognition Schedule

You can create Recognition Schedule from the Recognition Schedule Page. 

Step 1: Navigate to the Recognition Schedule page.

Step 2. Click + Add button in the top-right of the Recognition Schedule page to open the Recognition Schedule definition page.

Step 3. The Recognition Schedule definition page opens with default settings similar to the Centage standard: Even. Make selections for each of the properties and enter values for the selected Input Method.

Step 4. Click Save & Exit.

A confirmation message is displayed in the upper right corner.

 

You are returned to the Recognition Schedule page where you will see this Recognition Schedule listed.

 

 Please Note: You can also select this Recognition Schedule to use when you create new Payment and Receivable Schedules.

 

Edit a Recognition Schedule

You may find on occasion that you would like to edit one of your Recognition Schedules. When Recognition Schedules are edited, any data projection in your unlocked versions where the Spread Method is used will be updated to reflect this change.

Step 1. Navigate to the Recognition Schedules page.

Step 2. On the row with the Recognition Schedules, click the button in the Actions column and select Edit.

 Please Note: You cannot edit or delete the Centage standard Recognition Schedules.

Step 3. The Recognition Schedule definition page opens. Edit as needed.

 Please Note: ou cannot edit the Name of a Recognition Schedule.

Step 4. Click Save & Exit.

A confirmation message is displayed in the upper right corner. 

 

You are returned to the Recognition Schedule page.

Please Note: For any data projections in unlocked budget versions where this Recognition Schedule is selected, the values will be recalculated to reflect this change.

 

Delete a Recognition Schedule

If you have a Recognition Schedule that you are no longer using in Centage, you may want to delete it.

Step 1. Navigate to the Recognition Schedule page.

Step 2. On the row with the Recognition Schedule, click the button in the Actions column and select Delete.

 

 Please Note: You cannot edit or delete the Centage standard Recognition Schedules.

Step 3: A message window is displayed. Click Confirm.

 

A confirmation message is displayed in the upper right corner. 

 

You are returned to the Recognition Schedule page and the Recognition Schedule no longer exists.

 Please Note: If you try to delete a Recognition Schedule that a line item from Operating Expenses, Revenue, Personnel, Drivers, or Adjustments currently uses, you receive this error message:

In order to delete this Recognition Schedule, you will need to remove it from any line items that use it and then come back to Recognition Schedule page to delete.

Adding Quarterly Recognition Schedules with 13 Periods

If you are setting up a Recognition Schedule spread over a Quarter of the year, and your company’s fiscal calendar uses 13-periods, use this section to set up this new Recognition Schedule.

Start Type – Click on this dropdown menu and select one of the following options:

• Data Projection – Select this option to start this spread in the month that the related Data Projection (the line item you’re spreading using this method) starts.
• Hierarchy – Select this option to start this spread in Period 1 of the fiscal year for this Plan (not the traditional calendar year.

Spread Type – Click on this dropdown menu and select one of the following options:

• Even – Select this option to spread the amount evenly over the Spread Hierarchy, Spread Over Length, Spread By, and Start Type methods you chose above.
• Custom – Select this option to set up a custom Spread and spread an amount unevenly.

Example: Select this option to assign 30% of a cost to Quarter 1, $20% to Quarter 2, 20% to Quarter 3, and 30% to Quarter 4.

When you recognize amounts by Quarter of Year, a No. of Periods option appears below. The radio buttons display different numbers, depending on how many quarters this schedule covers:

13-period fiscal calendars use three 3-period quarters and one 4-period quarter. Depending on how you set up this Plan’s Time Dimension, each quarter in your fiscal year could have 3 periods or 4 periods.

The No. of Periods lets you choose how this schedule works depending on whether each quarter is a three-period quarter or a four-period quarter.

Number of Periods in a Quarterly Recognition Schedule in a 13-Period Fiscal Year
Number of Quarters in the Spread Over Length	No. of Periods
Number of quarters you are scheduling the amount over	Number of Periods that could be in the number of quarters you are scheduling over
1	3 or 4 One quarter in a 13-period year could have 3 periods or 4 periods
2	6 or 7 Two quarters in a 13-period year could both have 6 periods total (two 3-period quarters) or 7 periods total (one 3-period quarter and one 4-period quarter)
3	9 or 10 Three quarters in a 13-period year could have 9 periods total (three 3-period quarters) or 10 periods total (two 3-period quarters and one 4-period quarter)
4	13 No options necessary since the schedule covers an entire year

If you schedule amounts over more than one quarter, the options below reflect the total number of periods:

Example: If the schedule covers two quarters, select how the schedule works when both quarters have 6 periods total (3 periods each) or 7 periods total (one 3-period quarter and one 4-period quarter):	Example: If the schedule covers three quarters, select how the schedule works when it has 9 periods total (three 3-period quarters) or 10 periods total (two 3-period quarters and one 4-period quarter):

Choose how the schedule treats each type of quarter in your schedule (3-period and 4-period quarters):

• To select how this Recognition Schedule works for the three-period quarters, click on the top radio button (3, 6, 9, etc.) and enter the weight or percentage for each period.

• To select how this Recognition Schedule works for the three-period quarters, click on the radio button on the bottom (4, 7, 10, etc.) and enter the weight or percentage for each period.

Example: If you are recognizing an amount over one quarter with a 13-period fiscal calendar, you could assign 33.33% to each period in 3-period quarters and 25% to each period in the 4-period quarter.

When you finish setting up the Recognition Schedule, click Save & Exit.

The new Recognition Schedule appears in the list. You and other users can use this Recognition Schedule for any line item in the Operating Expenses, Revenue, Personnel, Drivers, or Adjustments applications in the Worksheets module.