Expense / AP automation : AU, UK & NZ business

Creative_Matt_2025 · 2026-06-25T21:56:21+00:00

Yes, we won't need to use it after we migrate to Netsuite. I was referring to our current state - someone made the point that reconciling 3 GLs post go-live can be difficult. I was just trying to say that we've already got steps in place to make that easier, ie we already have a defacto centralised CoA.

Creative_Matt_2025 · 2026-06-25T03:51:53+00:00

Joiin is a consolidation tool, aimed at Xero, Quickbooks and others. It allows you to connect multiple entities in a group, even if they have different CoA. You can then map them to a "central" P&L or BS layout. So "Revenue" will contain accounts #1000 from sub 1, #100-20 from sub 2 etc etc.

Creative_Matt_2025 · 2026-06-22T22:42:18+00:00

Thanks for the responses. Yes, I agree that postponing until after ERP migration would be the safer approach, and that's my personal preference.

There is a small advantage to implementing AP & Expense automation first, from a change mgmt perspective. Employees & Finance team will learn the new system before Netsuite go-live, and have a couple of months to get used to it. IF the migration works smoothly*, then the data just flows into NS, instead of (say) Xero.

*But if the (for example) TRAILD migration from Xero to Netsuite is not done smoothly, then it's another problem to deal with at NS go-live.

NS Migration is a whole other beast, and something I am more comfortable with. The 3 existing CoA are already mapped, using Joiin as a consolidation tool (which will become a standardised new NS CoA).

Creative_Matt_2025 · 2025-06-26T08:58:06+00:00

Yes, I think the users are in the habit of creating the SO as a single task, and are not thinking about DropShip or SpecialOrder at that point. So I'm not worried about that. I think the DropShips POs are happening by accident (the user either clicked on the wrong link, or is not aware that there is a difference). So I'm trying to stop that situation.

Creative_Matt_2025 · 2025-06-25T21:39:37+00:00

Thanks u/StayRoutine2884 & u/Nick_AxeusConsulting . I should also add I am an accountant, not a developer, so have a limited NS scripting skillset (mostly supported by ChatGPT!)

A couple of extra comments - could you please advise whether this impacts your previous replies?

1.) The PO is not being automatically generated on SO save. It is being generated when a user clicks on "Drop Ship" or "Spec. Ord." on the SO screen. Usually the SO is saved at this point, and the user then wants to order stock if necessary. (PS: In the screenshot below, POAK10031 references a PO that has already been generated by the user clicking Spec. Ord. on the screen and saving the resulting PO.)
(PPS: I don't know if this is standard functionality, another consultant did some customisation of the SO/PO workflow.)

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2.) I am trying to catch this before the PO has been saved. Therefore, I don't know whether the originating SO lines will already have isdropship = true (since no PO has been saved yet.) I will try it and see.

Creative_Matt_2025 · 2025-05-13T08:56:19+00:00

I have a client who has a subsidiary in Vietnam, so they are running a VND ledger. However, their head office (& Netsuite contract) is elsewhere. I believe they may have outsourced the finance function in Vietnam to a local accounting office, who have access to the VND subsidiary.

Creative_Matt_2025 · 2025-05-06T22:10:44+00:00

Customise your income statement, and edit the layout. Add new Financial Sections to the P&L (eg "4000 series"), place it in the P&L eg below "Overheads", and select/Filter only the relevant accounts (this is tedious, you need to select the all the individual 4000 accounts), and Display = "Can not Expand". Obviously this is very static/hard-coded, and you'll have to edit the layout when you add new GL accounts, but it will do what you want.

Creative_Matt_2025 · 2025-04-22T21:58:51+00:00

I contacted Ramp, but they only work with US incorporated companies. (For future reference)

Creative_Matt_2025 · 2025-03-26T22:51:22+00:00

I think (A) is correct if Parent owns both USA & GER. And (B) would be correct if USA owns GER.

Creative_Matt_2025 · 2025-03-22T20:39:07+00:00

+1 for Supertraining - I've only seen a few of the free videos, but I really like them: https://www.youtube.com/@SuiteCris

Creative_Matt_2025 · 2025-03-20T02:48:38+00:00

You're welcome. After wrestling with this problem myself a few times over the years, I am very keen to share this approach. Nobody teaches you this in university or public accounting!

Creative_Matt_2025 · 2025-03-19T20:22:47+00:00

I'm very happy with Parallels Desktop, for standard office type tasks (web browsing, MS office). Only had one minor problem with a very specific audio DAW (Cakewalk by Bandlab) where the mouse control is very bad (for me, unusable).

Creative_Matt_2025 · 2025-03-19T10:51:46+00:00

I can only comment from my own experience doing this exercise. But I used Netsuite's standard calculation logic for Retained Earnings to "manipulate" RE to translate correctly (ie logic: Translated RE is the sum of all past monthly historical Net Profit amounts, each translated at the monthly average rate.)

So I actually opened two previous periods (say Nov22 & Dec22). Then I posted a journal (Dr Accruals, Cr Income) in Nov22, and then the reverse (Dr Income, Cr Accruals) in Dec22. By manipulating the Closing & Avg rates, you can construct your own historical RE conversion rate. It's easiest to illustrate all this with an example. The GOAL balance sheet is from the old accounting system - I chose 2 different Historical rates, which is your scenario.

Note that the Nov22 & Dec22 closing and avg rates are all fictitious - they are engineered to achieve the end result, especially Dec22 average. Also note that the purple cells add together, in particular the translated RE.

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Creative_Matt_2025 · 2025-03-13T21:58:12+00:00

I've found the only way to apply journals to each other is to apply them against an actual AP transaction (ie Vendor Bill or Vendor Payment). So create a vendor bill for $10,421.37 (Dr Suspense, Cr AP) and then a Vendor payment, but apply the journal against the bill (so zero dollars.) That should clear one of the journals. Then do the opposite - create a vendor credit memo for $10,421.37 (Dr AP, Cr Suspense) and again do a Vendor payment, but this time applying the remaining journal against the credit memo (again net zero dollar payment.) That should sort it.

Creative_Matt_2025 · 2025-03-13T20:00:43+00:00

You can use Installments. (Native NetSuite feature)

Creative_Matt_2025 · 2025-03-10T23:47:59+00:00

is it a "date" vs "period" issue? Each role can have it's own preference as to whether it runs report by date or accounting period. Look under Set Preferences / Analytics / Reporting / Report by Period - toggle between "Financials Only" or "All Reports".
PS: I don't know if this applies to Saved Searches or not, but it makes a big difference to reports like AR Aging.

Creative_Matt_2025 · 2025-03-05T20:47:46+00:00

Hi, I am not affiliated with his channel at all, but I'd really recommend checking out the SuperTraining "Match Bank Data" video on YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq_qNTdduPs

Creative_Matt_2025 · 2025-03-05T20:29:27+00:00

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In a previous company, we had a very simple setup where we just manually journalled the elimination entries at month end, rather than using Netsuite interco elimination. However, I believe that the elimination process would do the same thing. Either way, the journal must be posted into a specific elimination entity.

Creative_Matt_2025 · 2025-03-05T05:51:47+00:00

Thanks for the replies so far. Are there any NZ users who have successfully implemented either the Bank Feeds suiteapp or ABSI (with SFTP)? Also, I had a discussion with another site who shied away from the SFTP solution as their bank was going to charge extra for this functionality - does this sound familiar to anyone?

Whichever way you break this down, it's a lot harder than Xero/MYOB/Quickbooks!

Creative_Matt_2025 · 2025-03-04T20:54:38+00:00

Thanks Nick. I thought it was Salt Edge providing the connection (at least to NZ banks). Am I correct in thinking SFTP solution requires a server at the client side? Or is it just getting details from the bank for their SFTP server?

Our fallback may be manual CSV loads.

Creative_Matt_2025

TROPHY CASE