[finaliteration]

I know that typically with gift cards the dollars fall into a "deferred revenue" account until they are actually realized as a sale against a product/service tied to an income account. You can say "We have X amount in deferred revenue" but can't actually show it as recognized until certain things happen (VSOE rules for software, etc). In the case of Starbucks I think it would be similar, though I'm not sure if using their app for payment qualifies as a "gift card" in the same sense or not.

I believe there are also different laws in different states and jurisdictions related to "breakage", e.g. some states don't allow gift cards to expire whereas others do, so in the latter you can forecast breakage upon set dates whereas in the former it's a lot harder to do because you basically "owe" a product or service indefinitely.

PS I am not an accountant but I've worked with a lot of them via backend billing systems implementation and development.