For credits to not be considered a money substitute, they must be non-transferable, non-refundable, and have an expiration date. Without an expiration date, unused credits cannot be accounted for as revenue, but as a liquid asset similar to cash.

Best practice is to set a long expiration date, such as 1-2 years. There are different regulations about it in different states. After that unused credits can be accounted as breakage revenue.

If a company treats credits as money, it will have to comply with numerous financial regulations. For example, if a company compensates for SLA breaches with cash rather than credits, this could be considered insurance.