principal versus agent

ASC 605-45 formerly governed whether a company reports revenue gross (as a principal) or net (as an agent), including guidance on shipping and handling costs and reimbursed out-of-pocket expenses. Every paragraph in the subtopic (Sections 05, 15, 45, 50, and 55) has been superseded by ASU No. 2014-09, so the subtopic contains no operative guidance. Gross-versus-net presentation is now determined under the principal-versus-agent (control) guidance in ASC 606-10-55-36 through 55-40.

ASC 808-10 defines collaborative arrangements — contractual arrangements involving a joint operating activity between two or more active participants who are exposed to significant risks and rewards dependent on the endeavor's commercial success, and that are not primarily conducted through a separate legal entity. The Topic governs income statement presentation, classification, and disclosure, not recognition or measurement generally. Third-party transactions are reported gross or net based on the principal-versus-agent guidance in Topic 606, and payments between participants are accounted for under Topic 606 only when the counterparty is a customer for a distinct unit of account; otherwise presentation is by analogy or a reasonable, rational, consistently applied policy election.