Revenue – ifrs 15 handbook

10.3.1 
Unit of account
IFRS 15.B34–B34A
When other parties are involved in providing goods or services to a customer, the 
entity determines whether the nature of its promise is a performance obligation 
to provide the specified goods or services itself or to arrange for them to be 
provided by another party – i.e. whether it is a principal or an agent. It makes 
this determination by identifying each specified good or service promised to the 
customer in the contract and evaluating whether the entity obtains control of the 
specified good or service before it is transferred to the customer – i.e. the unit of 
account is the specified good or service. 
A ‘specified good or service’ is the distinct good or service (or distinct bundle 
of goods or services) to be provided to the customer specified in Step 2 (see 
Chapter 2
). 
Because an entity evaluates whether it is a principal or an agent for each specified 
good or service to be transferred to the customer, it is possible for the entity to be a 
principal for one or more specified goods or services and an agent for others in the 
same contract.
The specified good or service to be transferred to the customer may in some cases 
be a right to an underlying good or service that will be provided by another party.
Example 1 – Specified good or service is the underlying product 
ordered
Company V operates a website from which it sells Company T’s products. 
Customers place orders directly on the website. V passes orders on to T, which 
ships the products directly to customers. 
In this case, the specified good or service is the underlying product ordered 
rather than a right to that product.
Example 2 – Specified good or service is a right to a specified good 
or service
Company Y is a ticket-selling agent that sells airline tickets. The tickets give 
customers the right to travel with a specific airline. 
In this case, the specified good or service is the right to the flight. As such, 
the principal-agent assessment focuses on who controls that right rather than 
the underlying flight itself. In these cases, the fact that Y will not provide the 
underlying service is not determinative.

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246 | Revenue – IFRS 15 handbook