The change in Red Hat's accounting is to book revenue by the day rather than by the month. So if they sign a contract partway through the month, they'll only count X days of revenue for the starting month rather than a full month, and then when the end of the contract comes they'll book a fraction of a month less revenue.

This moved their earnings a lot right now because they get a lot more contracts than they have expiring, and furthermore their margins are very thin so a small change in income moved revenues.

But in the long run it is a wash. And as an accounting practice, neither version is at all unreasonable.

Cheers,
Ben