A bit of a mixed title, but hopefully a simple problem to solve.
We sell vouchers for a service, where the customer can spend it later. Think ‘helicopter rides’ (its’ not, but it’ll do for an example).
So someone buys a voucher for a helicopter ride for £100 in December as a Xmas gift. The recipient then comes to spend it at some point over the next 6 months. At that point it will cost us £50 to provide the service (fuel, pilot etc).
How can I manage the flow of customer credit and future (known) expenses such that we don’t overspend elsewhere? I’ve seen a few options, but none seem to quite fit…
One option would be to create an invoice for future purchases - but invoices can’t be forward-dated.
Another would be to use virtual bank accounts - however while this ring-fences the funds, it’s not clear how I can only ring-fence the future expenses but allow the profit to be available for spending?
Any suggestions welcome!