Prepaid SaaS usage credits are expiring: review the remaining obligation

Before processing expiry, reconcile the original purchase, credits granted, consumption and adjustments. Link the grant to the customer's payment or invoice and confirm the currency. A dashboard's available balance may be affected by pending invoices or other processing states, so retain the transaction history that explains the amount being reviewed.

Keep purchased credits separate from free promotional credits. The business received different consideration for them, and their commercial conditions may differ. If earlier credits were migrated or manually combined, reconstruct their origin and dates before applying one expiry rule to the whole balance. Unexplained opening credits need a review owner, not an assumed expiration date.

Stripe's Credit Grant object records effective and expiration timestamps. Those settings should reflect the approved arrangement; they do not create the business's contractual right to expire a purchased balance. Compare the configured timestamp with the agreement, any extension and any applicable legal requirements identified by the appropriate adviser.

Check the timezone and what the customer was told about the last usable day. Also review whether consumption occurring before expiry can arrive in billing afterward. If pending usage or invoices may consume the balance, resolve their status before telling the customer the final unused amount. Record the evidence for any approved extension or manual adjustment.

Accounting needs the contract, usage record and basis for concluding that the obligation has ended. IFRS 15's revenue model centers on the promised service and consideration; an operational expiry flag alone cannot establish the complete accounting analysis. Ask the accountant to document the treatment under the business's actual framework and policy.

For an illustrative $10,000 purchase with $7,600 consumed, the remaining $2,400 is the amount to investigate. It is not automatically current-period revenue merely because a scheduled task changed the grant's status. Unresolved disputes, valid extensions or delayed usage can change the assessment. Keep those facts visible in the close file.

Before declaring a remaining balance expired, identify qualifying usage that occurred before the deadline but has not yet reached the credit ledger. Preserve both the service timestamp and posting timestamp. Ask the commercial and system owners how the agreement treats that timing difference, and give accounting the unresolved facts.

A hypothetical customer may have an apparent $700 balance at expiry while an approved batch of earlier usage is still processing. The final balance depends on the contract's eligibility rule and the batch outcome. Keep that pending activity visible instead of expiring the full amount immediately and later recreating value through an unexplained manual grant. Resolve the case with a chronological reconciliation of consumption, expiry and any approved correction.

Provide the customer a clear balance statement where the agreement or normal service process calls for it. Explain usage, adjustments and the effective expiry or extension without implying that the platform setting overrides the contract. If the customer challenges the balance, preserve their evidence and route the issue to the commercial owner before making further adjustments.

After the decision, verify the grant history, customer-facing balance and accounting schedule. Retain the approved entry and references to any remaining obligation. Add upcoming expiry reviews to the finance calendar with enough time to resolve exceptions. The next reviewer should be able to distinguish credits consumed, credits extended and credits validly expired without reconstructing a series of manual changes.