Subscriber and Account Rating Examples

This section shows account and subscriber rating side by side. The two examples illustrate how accounts and subscribers influence each other in the GL, even though they are not directly related.

Example #1:

An office pay subscriber pays a discounted 29.20 for a flat rate 3-month subscription beginning January 1, 2007. The expiration date is April 1, 2007. The full cost for three months is 30.10. The newspaper uses a single copy rate.

The copy rate is calculated as the subscription amount paid divided by the actual number of copies the subscriber will receive. Assuming a 7-day subscription (and every day is a publishing day), the copy rate would be 29.20 / 90 days (31 days in January and March, plus 28 days in February), or 0.324444. In addition, Circulation calculates the average discount rate (0.90 / 90 days) as 0.01.

Assuming no changes (i.e., new payments or renewals), the unearned revenue at the end of January would be 19.14 (or 59 days * 0.324444). The total earned revenue would be 29.20 - 19.14, or 10.06. The discount earned would be 0.31 or 0.90 - 0.59 (59 days times 0.01 average discount rate).

On the account billing side, the account is charged and then credited for delivery to office pay subscribers. Assuming that the account is rated per copy, and the rates are 0.29 charge and a 0.39 credit, at the end of January the account would have earned 3.10 from this subscription.

The general ledger entries would be as shown below.

Example #2:

A carrier collect subscriber begins a 7-day subscription on June 1, 2007. Being carrier collect, it is up to the individual carrier to set the rates and collection periods (the newspaper may have rating guidelines or have other policies, but they are not reflected in Circulation).

This account has a monthly period rate that varies by day. Sundays are 4.00 per month for this subscription. Wednesdays are 1.75 per month, and all other days are 1.50 per month. So, for this month, the account would be charged 4.00 + 1.50 + 1.50 + 1.75 + 1.50 + 1.50 + 1.50 = 13.25 for this subscription.

The general ledger entries would be as shown below.