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Accrued income is the income which has been earned but has not yet been received. This earned income falls under this category only if the company has right to receive this income. Accrued income is recorded for the period for which it is accrued and not for the period in which invoice is raised or payment is received.

For example, XYZ ltd holds a contract with ABC ltd to provide accounting solutions for the accounting year 2016 – 2017. As per the terms of agreement, invoice will be raised in accounting period 2017 – 18 and payment shall be made after that.

As the company XYZ ltd is providing its services throughout the year, the portion of income thus generated will be recorded for the period 2016 – 2017 and not for 2017 – 18 (in which invoice is raised).

Companies which use cash basis accounting do not use this term as they record the transaction when cash is received.

Accrued income is considered as current asset for a company (if the payment is expected to be received within a year) and is recorded on assets side of a balance sheet.

Accrued expense is an expense that has been incurred but has not yet been paid. Put it in simple words, payment for these expenses are done after the product or service is taken. For example, salaries & wages, interest on bank loan, income tax etc.

Contrary to prepaid expense, an accrued expense is treated as current liability (If the expense is expected to be paid with a year) and shown on liability side of a balance sheet.

These expenses are recorded for the period in which they incur and not for the period in which payment is made.

For example, company XYZ ltd paid salaries to its employees for the month of March 2017 on 3^rd April 2017. The company will make a journal entry for the month of march (for which salaries were issued) and not for the month of April (in which salaries were paid).

Deferred expense (also known as prepaid expense) is the cost which has been incurred but the product or service has not yet been received or consumed.

As this is the cost for advance payment, this is treated as current assets (If the underlying goods or services are expected to be taken within a year) on balance sheet of a company.

This expense becomes actual expense at the time when good or services are used by the company. At that time a reversal entry is made to settle the balance.

Rent paid in advance, Insurance premium paid etc. are the examples of prepaid expense.

Deferred revenue (also known as unearned revenue) is the income which has been received but the product/ service is yet to be delivered to customer.

As this is the amount which has been received in advance, this is treated as current liability (If the agreement is to provide goods/ services within a year) and shown on liability side of a balance sheet.

This becomes income when the order is fulfilled and product or service is delivered to customer.

Examples of deferred revenue:

Unearned revenue is most common for companies which provide software services to its customer and charge upfront amount.

Rent received in advance, prepayment for subscription for newspaper are the other examples of unearned revenue.