Tesla launched its low-cost Model 3 last week, and customers responded with a plethora of pre-orders. CEO Elon Musk has been tweeting updates on the early interest since, and here's the latest missive available at press time:

276k Model 3 orders by end of Sat — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 3, 2016

Each of these pre-orders comes with a $1,000 down payment, or a similar amount in the local currency (£1,000, €1,000, etc.) Do the math, and you'll find that Tesla is collecting something on the order of $300 million in pre-order commitments for a product not slated for delivery until the second half of 2017. How will Tesla's accountants handle this cash influx in the face of potential cancellations and refunds?

Deferred revenues

Pre-order accounting is not a hard science. Tesla's accountants and CFO Jason Wheeler have some options on how to treat this incoming cash. For example, it could be recorded as revenue up front and then held in a firm escrow account until actual products are delivered. This way, the pre-order cash would be barred from taking any part in Tesla's business other than collecting some interest.

But the far more popular and likely treatment is to skip the income statement for now. Instead, the payments would land directly in Tesla's available cash balance, but they'd be balanced by a balance sheet liability known as "deferred revenue." These funds will eventually move into the "current deferred revenue" line as the planned delivery date moves closer. Changes to these items show up as "cash from operations."

Tesla's cash accounts will swell in tandem with the deferred revenue bucket. The net effect on operational cash flows is zero until the prepayments have first moved over to the "current" field and then onto the income statement's revenue item when products are delivered and fully financed.

So neither cash flows nor revenues will see any of this money until Tesla starts delivering Model 3 cars to its customers. Cash balances will rise, but so will Tesla's liabilities. It's kind of like taking on new loans—the fresh cash is balanced out by rising debt balances. Tesla can use the cash, but it must always keep in mind that it has promised to deliver something at the end of the day.

Balance sheet effects

At the end of the recently reported fourth quarter of fiscal year 2015, Tesla had $1.2 billion of cash equivalents on hand. The company also held about $2.7 billion of long-term debt and capital leases, much like homeowners staring down mortgage balances above and beyond their current cash assets.

Tesla is already accustomed to deferred revenues. Thanks to its popular residual value guarantee program and in-house financing options, the company is nursing about $1.15 billion of total deferred revenues today. Yes, that's nearly the same amount as Tesla's current cash holdings. In other words, the company already operates on a cash cushion backed by lots and lots of deferred revenues. It's business as usual.

The Model 3 pre-order tickets will increase both sides of this balancing act. Tesla's gets more financial flexibility, sorely needed in order to ramp up its manufacturing volume and fill the promises it is making. On the other hand, more liabilities always means more risk. It's a give-and-take equation, and TANSTAAFL for the Internet economists out there.

So, TL;DR, Tesla now has $300 million extra cash, but the company also promised to eventually deliver 300,000 cars. Accountants and investors won't let the company forget about that part of the deal.

Disclosure: Anders Bylund owns shares in Tesla. As part of his contract with The Motley Fool, he cannot buy or sell shares two business days before or after mentioning that company in any public medium. Last trade: June 12, 2014.