Unearned Revenue. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that the Maisonette might move out of downtown, which sucks for us folks who bought houses near downtown. Sorry for the op/ed there. :) Although it doesn't state the accounting piece of it explicitly, I found an accounting practice at work in real life: "He's [the owner] even turned to his own customers for help by asking they pay thousands of dollars upfront for future meals to help fund an expansion that would include a concert hall and a bistro. But after collecting more than $1 million from customers, he scrapped that plan. Customers can still collect their meals." This would be counted as Unearned Revenue and would be done for Cash Flow reasons.