LARP, a website launched by a startup, offers founders a tool to create reciprocal revenue agreements that record revenue without any cash transfer. The service matches two founders, each agreeing to a revenue figure, then records the transaction so both parties report the amount as revenue in their financial statements while no money moves between them.

In traditional accounting, revenue is recognized when control of a product or service passes to a customer, requiring actual cash or value exchange. LARP’s model bypasses that requirement by arranging bilateral service agreements where each party records the agreed amount as revenue, creating the appearance of demand without an economic transfer.

The platform outlines three steps. First, founders are matched with a peer who has a bank account. Second, the agreed amount is wired in a circle, so each leg is recorded as revenue for the receiving party. Third, the revenue is annualized to calculate annual recurring revenue, allowing a small cash flow to support large reported ARR figures.

LARP states that the agreements specify genuine deliverables and that each party independently recognizes revenue under ASC 606 when performance obligations are satisfied. The company says it does not provide accounting, legal, or tax advice and that customers are responsible for ensuring compliance with applicable standards and securities law.

Analysts have compared the practice to 1990s dot‑com vendor financing and warn it may inflate reported demand. A Bloomberg column noted that regulators view sham round‑trips as fraudulent, whereas LARP describes its arrangement as a legal cousin of those practices.

A finance team at Cadenza Systems reported a 340% year‑over‑year revenue increase without changes to cash position, saying auditors found the entries acceptable. Another controller at Northbank said LARP removed cash‑flow concerns from growth planning.

The platform states it does not charge users, because doing so would create real revenue that conflicts with its premise. It offers a free tier and allows optional tips, which the site says are not equity or revenue share.

Whether the model will withstand audit scrutiny or regulatory review remains unclear.