Who's afraid of Application Note G?

Application Note G (AN G) is an unremarkable title to what is little more than a footnote to one of the UK accounting standards. It aims to provide guidance on when to account for revenue. Yet this innocent-sounding document recently published by the Accounting Standards Board (ASB) is now starting to bite as professional firms prepare their accounts for the current year. AN G may lead to a significant acceleration of revenue and profit in respect of assignments in progress at the year end with unpleasant tax implications.

The accounting press and several professional trade journals have printed articles about AN G some...