Option A vs Option B: How Revenue Recognition Affects Beautician Earnings

A NT$10,000 package, customer pays half upfront, when does the beautician earn the credit? See the real difference between Option A and Option B — and why this choice determines whether the shop loses money.

6 min read·5/12/2026

The scenario

A customer buys a 10-session facial package for NT$10,000, uses 1 session same day, but only pays NT$5,000 cash with NT$5,000 promised next visit. Question: how much performance does the beautician earn today? How is month-end commission calculated?

Option B: full credit on service day

Traditional accounting view — service completed, customer committed to total, so full revenue recognised. Today's NT$10,000 fully enters performance; commission base is NT$10,000 immediately. **Pros**: Beautician instantly knows "I did NT$10,000 of work"; month-end calculations are simpler. **Cons**: If customer defaults later, the shop already paid commission on revenue never collected — shop covers the gap. Common pitfall when split payments are common.

Option A: follow the cash

MeiYe Zhan's model — performance recognition **follows actual cash inflow**. Today: paidRatio = NT$5,000 / NT$10,000 = 50%; performance = service amount × 50% = NT$5,000. The remaining NT$5,000 enters the Debt module for tracking. When the customer pays the balance 3 days later → **that repayment day counts as a fresh NT$5,000 performance event** (still attributed to the original beautician).

Side-by-side numbers

Same NT$10,000 service, customer pays in two installments (NT$5,000 + NT$5,000): **Option B** day-of NT$10,000, day+3 NT$0. **Option A** day-of NT$5,000, day+3 NT$5,000. Totals match at NT$10,000 — the difference is **timing distribution and risk allocation**.

Why cash-basis is safer

Customer default rate isn't zero in beauty. If the owner pays beautician commission monthly (effectively next-day), but the customer hasn't paid by next month — under Option B the shop already fronted commission on revenue never received; under Option A the shop only paid commission proportional to actually-received cash. In shops with high split-payment volume, this design difference determines whether the shop bleeds margin.

Communicating with beauticians

Beauticians may ask: "I did NT$10,000 of work, why only NT$5,000 credited?" Answer: **not less, just deferred**. As the customer pays in installments, each repayment recognises new performance, still attributed to the original beautician. MeiYe Zhan's dashboard shows "service-day recognition" and "repayment-day recognition" side by side so beauticians see their full performance trail across time.

Multi-beautician coordination

When a service has main + supporting beauticians (v1.0.18+ multi-support), the proportional split **also follows cash**. Example: main 70% + assistant 30%; day-of payment NT$5,000 → main NT$3,500, assistant NT$1,500; 3 days later balance paid NT$5,000 → main NT$3,500, assistant NT$1,500. Ratios stay fixed; timing follows cash.

Implementation challenges

MeiYe Zhan v1.0.x onward encapsulates this logic in `src/lib/performanceCalc.ts` via the `treatmentPaidRatios` helper. All performance entry points (dashboard, reports, attendance payroll) route through this one helper to prevent calculation drift. Phase C (v1.0.x mid-series) addressed a related subtlety: vouchers are credit, not cash, and must be excluded at the source (not patched at the display layer), else per-staff totals diverge from shop totals.

Conclusion

Option A is a robust design choice — long-term fair to shop, beautician, and customer. It requires the system to natively implement paidRatio calculation, Debt module, cross-month settlement. If your SaaS is stuck on Option B, or can't clearly explain "how is performance counted when the customer hasn't paid in full", that's a major evaluation red flag.

Key takeaways

·Option A (follow cash) and Option B (full day-of) totals match but timing and risk differ
·Option A is safer for shop — no commission on uncollected revenue if customer defaults
·MeiYe Zhan implements Option A via paidRatio; all performance entry points unified through one helper
·Multi-supporter splits stay proportionally fixed; only timing follows cash
·Vouchers must be excluded at source — a derivative rule of Option A discipline