a friend of yours who is not an accounting major states, "i always thought that a company recognizes revenues at the time of sale. recently, however, i heard that there are five specific steps for revenue recognition and that included in the steps is something about performance obligations to customers (whatever that means). does that mean companies only recognize revenue when they get paid? but then i also heard that revenue may be recognized before or after the sale. i am confused. please explain revenue recognition to me."