Managing NetSuite’s Chart of Accounts

A chart of account (COA) provides a complete listing of every account in accounting system. In NetSuite, you can manually add account records or use the CSV import assistant to upload account information. The Chart of Accounts is an excellent way to record all of these transactions for an asset, income, revenue, expense, liability, equity.

NetSuite gives organisations the chance to consolidate their Chart of Accounts by removing segments and subsidiaries out from their chart structure as NetSuite allows users to dictate these classifications on the transaction header and line.

Many organisations miss this opportunity and therefore underutilised NetSuite’s standard financial reporting pivoting and filtering functionality.

Traditionally, Chart of Account numbering would dictate which segment (department, class, location etc.) the account belongs to. Now that NetSuite allows these classifications to be assigned on the transaction header and line (with defaults), Chart of Account numbering is used to create different formats of financial statements. Typical examples are Statistical and Management Income Statements.

“Other handy tips to make the end user experience easier, when creating a new account, add the account number as the External ID, this is done via import only. This will make future Journal Entry Importing easier.” writes Henry Sack, Klugo’s Solution Consultant.

Another tip: Netsuite OneWorld automatically adjusts the currency revaluation therefore when creating your NetSuite Chart of Accounts across multiple currencies and subsidiaries there is only the need for one Account’s Receivable and Account’s Payable account.