Capital Receipt vs Revenue Receipt – All You Need To Know

Capital Receipt and Revenue Receipt are an integral part of business activity, like capital expenditure and revenue expenditure. Both represent an inflow of cash for the business. Although both are an integral part of business activity, capital and revenue receipts differ from each other in various aspects. Knowing the difference between Capital Receipt vs Revenue Receipt is extremely important to manage the business properly.

Before we detail the differences between capital receipt vs revenue receipt, let’s understand what both these concepts mean.

Capital Receipt vs Revenue Receipt – Meaning

Capital receipts are the income from non-recurring streams or from non-usual business operations. They result in an increase in the total capital of a company and are shown in the balance sheet. Therefore, capital receipts constitute financing and investing activities and not operating activities. Sources of capital receipts are – share issue, debenture issue, a loan from a bank or financial institution, a grant from the government, an insurance claim, or any additional claim by the proprietor.

On the other hand, revenue receipts are the outcome of core business activities. Or it is the income that a company earns from its day-to-day operations. In simple words, all activities happening on a daily basis that brings in cash for the business form part of a revenue receipt. The following are the sources for revenue receipts – rent, services offered by the business, sale of inventory, and more.

Capital Receipt vs Revenue Receipt – Differences

Following are the differences between capital receipt vs revenue receipt:

Source

Capital receipts are the revenue that a company gets from non-recurring sources, such as from financing and investing activities. A few examples of capital receipts are government grants, share issues, loans,s and more.

On the other hand, revenue receipts are receipts from normal business operations. A few sources of revenue receipts are revenue from sales, discounts from creditors, and more.

Nature

Capital receipts are of non-recurring nature, whereas revenue receipts are recurring in nature.

Conditions

A receipt must fulfill at least one of the two conditions to be called a capital receipt – it must create liability or lead to a reduction in the asset.

A receipt must fulfill at least one of the following two conditions to be called a revenue receipt – do not reduce the asset of a company or create any new liability.

Term

Capital receipts are of long-term nature, while revenue receipts are for the short-term. This means benefits of capital receipts are usually for more than a year, while for revenue receipts, the benefit is usually for one financial year.

Capital Receipts vs Revenue Receipts

Reserve

Capital receipts are not used to create reserve funds because they either increase the liability or reduce the asset of the company. On the other hand, revenue receipts can be used to create the reserve fund since they generate direct profit for a business.

Loan

Loans are part of the capital receipts. Companies apply and get a loan, and this leads to capital receipt. However, it also increases the liability of the company as the company has to repay the loan along with interest. Revenue receipts do not include loans as taking loans is not part of normal business operations.

Accounting Treatment

As capital receipts are not part of the revenue, they come on the balance sheet of a company. Revenue receipt, on the other hand, comes in the income statement.

Purpose

Businesses use capital receipts for several purposes, such as meeting capital expenditure, clearing debts, buying assets,s and more. On the contrary, revenue receipts come into use for meeting revenue expenditure, such as paying rent, electricity, salary, and more.

Impact on Profit and Loss

Capital receipts have no direct impact on the profit or loss of business. On the other hand, revenue receipt directly impacts the profit and loss of a company.

Impact on Asset and Liability

A capital receipt could either result in a drop in the asset or a rise in the value of the liability. For example, the sale of assets leads to a decrease in the value of an asset. On the other hand, revenue receipt has no direct impact on the value of assets or liability.

Final Words

Both capital and revenue receipt is an integral part of a business. A business won’t be able to survive in the absence of mismanagement of either of the two. From an investor’s point of view also, understanding capital receipt vs revenue receipt is essential. It helps the investor decide whether to invest in a company. For instance, a company with more capital receipts than revenue receipts might prove a risky bet.

Continue reading – Difference between Capital Profit and Revenue Profit



Sanjay Borad

Sanjay Bulaki Borad

MBA-Finance, CMA, CS, Insolvency Professional, B'Com

Sanjay Borad, Founder of eFinanceManagement, is a Management Consultant with 7 years of MNC experience and 11 years in Consultancy. He caters to clients with turnovers from 200 Million to 12,000 Million, including listed entities, and has vast industry experience in over 20 sectors. Additionally, he serves as a visiting faculty for Finance and Costing in MBA Colleges and CA, CMA Coaching Classes.

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