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Note 4 - Revenue From Contracts With Customers
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020
Notes to Financial Statements  
Revenue from Contract with Customer [Text Block]
4.
Revenue from contracts with customers
 
Within the FirstService Brands segment, franchise fee revenue recognized during the
twelve
months ended
December 
31,
2020
that was included in deferred revenue at the beginning of the period was
$4,012
(
2019
-
$4,462
). These fees are recognized over the life of the underlying franchise agreement, usually between
5
-
10
years.
 
External broker costs and employee sales commissions in obtaining new franchisees are capitalized in accordance with the revenue standard and are amortized over the life of the underlying franchise agreement. Costs amortized during the
twelve
months ended
December 
31,
2020
were
$1,888
(
2019
-
$1,717
). The closing amount of the capitalized costs to obtain contracts on the balance sheet as at
December 
31,
2020
was
$7,157
(
2019
-
$6,711
). There were
no
impairment losses recognized related to those assets in the quarter.
 
The Company's backlog represents remaining performance obligations and is defined as contracted work yet to be performed. As at
December 
31,
2020,
the aggregate amount of backlog was
$376,479.
The Company expects to recognize revenue on the remaining backlog over the next
12
months.
 
Disaggregated revenues are as follows: 
    Year ended
    December 31
    2020   2019
Revenues        
         
FirstService Residential   $
1,415,121
     $
1,411,998
  
FirstService Brands company-owned operations    
1,216,254
      
836,637
  
FirstService Brands franchisor    
136,746
      
153,826
  
FirstService Brands franchise fee    
4,294
      
4,949
  
 
The Company disaggregates revenue by segment, and within the FirstService Brands segment, further disaggregates its company-owned operations revenue; these businesses primarily recognize revenue over time as they perform because of the continuous transfer of control to the customer. As such, revenue is recognized based on the extent of progress towards completion of the performance obligation. The Company generally uses the cost-to-cost measure of progress method. The extent of progress towards completion is measured based on the ratio of costs incurred to date to the total estimated costs at completion of the performance obligation. Revenues, including estimated fees or profits, are recorded proportionally as costs are incurred.
 
We believe this disaggregation best depicts how the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of the Company's revenue and cash flows are affected by economic factors.