economic enterprises, both for-profit and not-for- profit, generate revenues through business processes that constitute their revenue cycle. In its simplest
form, the revenue cycle is the direct exchange of finished goods or services for cash in a single transaction between a seller and a buyer. More complex revenue cycles process sales on credit. Many days or weeks may pass between the point of sale and the subsequent receipt of cash. This time lag splits the revenue transaction into two phases: (1) the physical phase, involving the transfer of assets or services from the seller to the buyer; and (2) the financial phase,
involving the receipt of cash by the seller in payment of the
account receivable. As a matter of processing convenience, most firms treat each phase as a separate transaction. Hence, the revenue cycle actually consists of two major subsys- tems: (1) the sales order processing subsystem and (2) the cash receipts subsystem.