Bank Statement Automation in NetSuite

Bank statement reconciliation is an important step in the accounting process. It can be time-consuming to manually manage sales from approval to deposit and reconciliation, so here are a few tips to make your NetSuite experience more pleasant.

First, let's discuss the difference between a cleared transaction and reconciled one. A transaction starts its life as neither cleared nor reconciled. When you get confirmation that the money transfer is complete, the transaction is reputed as cleared. At the end of the month, when you get your official bank statement, every transaction can then be verified against the statement, corrected if necessary, and become reconciled. One way to view it is: cleared is for you, reconciled is for the auditor.

Many NetSuite users participate in e-business and deal with a very large number of transactions, which include a credit card processor such as PayPal's Payflow. In this case, it is useful to retrieve deposits via a CSV file import. Such a file is usually provided by the payment service provider. Unfortunately, NetSuite doesn't support direct third-party payment integration, nor does it support automated importation of bulk CSV data. Ideally, we would have liked to script a process by which we can work with deposits, but bank deposits are not an exposed part of the NetSuite API. This leaves us with a rather unseemly work-around by which we have to clear each transaction and mark them as reconciled. This solution works, but it will still make the reconciliation process difficult when dealing with exchange rates, ultimatel leaving us with rounding errors.

Since we are considering the problem of automated reconciliation, a custom record with matching fields should be created to receive the csv data. It's good practice to add an extra field (checkbox) in the custom record to flag processed entries, so as to limit the number of operations when running the script, which is described shortly hereafter.

For help importing csv data, see your NetSuite Help Center

Once the data is imported, the process of creating a SuiteScript deployment, script and .js file is fairly straightforward.

1. Search for unprocessed records of the custom type we have set up for this purpose,

2. Find the matching transaction for each,

Navigating to the Cash Sales list

3. Set the Account (account) in which the payment processor makes the deposits (usually one per processor or at least one per csv file) on the Cash Sale record,

Manually setting a Cash Sale's account

4. Set the Cleared field (cleared) to t, i.e. true, on the Cash Sale record (usually found in the Chart of Accounts)

The cleared (Clr) field in the chart of accounts

Once all deposited transactions are marked as cleared, we can reconcile them with one click on the "Mark all cleared to reconcile" [sic] button as illustrated below.

Navigating to Reconcile Bank Statement

The elusive Mark All Cleared to Reconcile [sic] button

As of this writing, this is the most automated this solution can be. There's no telling what NetSuite may decide to expose through its API in the future. We can always hope...

Website Tracking and Analytics - NetSuite Webstores Part 4

Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of internet data for the purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage; it is especially useful in helping to estimate how website traffic changes or fluctuates after the launch of a new advertising campaign. Web analytics provides information about the number of visitors to a website and the number of page views. This helps companies gauge traffic and popularity trends which is useful for market research.

On-site web analytics measures the performance of your website in a commercial context. This data is typically compared against key performance indicators for performance, and used to improve a web site or marketing campaign's audience response.

One of the most powerful aspects of NetSuite is its ability to produce real-time business intelligence, from simple at-a-glance dashboard widgets to comprehensive reports that compile whatever data you desire. Useful features include saved searches, KPIs directly on the dashboard, and a variety of reports.

It is very true that the inherent value in any business software is the ability to effectively analyze the data it contains. NetSuite includes a long list of extremely powerful reports, including financials and analytics (this is even more extensive if you have the SiteAnalytics module). NetSuite’s onscreen reports are interactive and can be output in a variety of document formats, including print, CSV, and PDF. You are given the capability to modify an existing report to meet your needs, or simply create a new one from scratch. Some of the reports included with the SiteAnalytics module are listed in the image below:

In addition to the standard NetSuite tracking abilities, tracking HTML and pixels provides data for both internal and external reporting tools such as Google Analytics. You can place these tracking elements in any greeting, message, or description field for items, categories, or tabs in your NetSuite site. When inputting these, ensure that you are on the HTML Source Code section in these fields before pasting the code (this ensures that the HTML mark-up is not displayed in the content).

In order to access reports you must have the correct permissions (if you do not see the Reports tab on your home page, check with your Administrator). It is important to note that your permissions define whether you can view or modify report formats, and whether you can view or modify the underlying data. As a NetSuite user, you can also set preferences in the system determining the way that you would like your reports to function.

1. From the Home tab menu, choose Set Preferences
2. Select the Reporting/Search tab
3. Change the options you want to set--there are several to choose from: Report by Period, Print Company Logo, Display Report Title on Screen, Display Report Description, Default Bank Account, Show Forecasts as Weighted, Minimum Forecast Probability etc.

In order to run an existing report, simply click on its name. Alternatively, you can select the 'Customize' link to go straight to the Report Builder where you can adjust the formatting and data elements (clicking this next to a financial report will open the Financial Report Builder) or select "New Report" to create your own report.

Whether you are using an out-of-the-box report, customizing an existing report, or creating your own report from scratch, NetSuite's analytics reports provide comprehensive insight to your sites traffic and popularity, and are infinitely useful in market research to give you the clearest view of your company`s online status.

Like this post? Check out the other parts of the Netsuite Webstore blog series:

Part 1 - Using NetSuite eCommerce as a Content Management System (CMS)

Part 2 - Adding Information Items with Pictures and Forms

Part 3 - Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and your NetSuite Webstore

August: Tips & Tricks

1 - RSS/Atom Feeds on your Dashboard

It is possible to publish information from news sources and RSS feeds on your personalized dashboard. There are certain feeds that NetSuite offers as a default; however you can also display custom RSS feeds from other sites or create a custom feed to publish messages to users of your NetSuite account.

Display custom RSS feeds from other sites with these steps:

1. Choose Personalize Dashboard so that the “Add Content” pane appears.
2. Select RSS/Atom Feed.

To remove a feed, click the X in the upper-right corner of the portlet.

*Note that a RSS feed that an admin has set up is automatically added to your dashboard.

2 - What’s the difference between KPIs, KPI meters, and KPI scorecards?

• A KPI shows a quick table of the key performance indicators that you select to be displayed. The table includes the KPI name, the period being compared (this month versus last month, for example), the current value, the previous value, and the percentage change. This portlet provides a quick overview of a number of KPIs.
• A KPI meter shows how you’re doing on a particular KPI.
  
• KPI scorecards are powerful analytical tools that are mainly used by managers to monitor the relationships among KPIs (ie, they can monitor the company’s fiscal health).

3 - Setting a minimum order amount

In some circumstances or business models, it may be necessary to require that customers order a minimum amount (ie, if credit card companies are charging you a certain percentage per order etc).

In order to set the minimum order amount in NetSuite:

1. Navigate to Setup >Web Site >Set Up Website
2. Select the Shopping tab.
3. Enter the minimum order amount desired for orders

Following this, any order that totals less than the amount you set will receive an error message. Alternatively, you can also set a minimum order quantities (not dollar amount) for individual items by filling out the Minimum Quantity field under the Sales/Pricing tab.

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