Whenever we discuss financial reporting in NetSuite (which is all day, every day), there are four common threads. In this article, we address those threads and discuss the additional layers of flexibility Excel introduces to finance teams looking to take control of their NetSuite reports.
So, let’s consider:
The most common NetSuite financial reports
As you would expect, core management reports are usually the starting point of any conversation. You can see some examples in more detail on our NetSuite Reporting page, but these include:
Profit & Loss (Income Statement)
Balance Sheet
Budget vs Actual
Regulatory reports including 10Q & 10k, and 1099
Consolidations
Obviously, NetSuite provides these reports (or at least, standard versions of these reports) off-the-shelf.
So, the conversation evolves from a perspective of NetSuite users who need either customized versions of these reports, or in some instances (particularly in complex or heavily regulated industries) alternative configurations of standard reports to comply with regulatory reporting requirements (e.g., fund reporting and trustee reporting for non-profit organizations).
These kind of reporting requests may include:
Fund reporting for non-profits.
Alternative GL structures or restructured nominal coding.
Budgets, forecasts and reforecasts to include multiple versions and unrestricted conditioning (e.g., free type percentage variations for ‘what if’ scenario planning).
Consolidated P&L by different currencies.
As you know, we love NetSuite and its native reporting. And as always, there is likely a way to create most, if not all, of the reports above within NetSuite if you have the time and skillset to do so.
The combination (or lack thereof) of time and technical NetSuite report writing capabilities is usually the challenge users are trying to tackle when looking for a NetSuite Excel reporting tool.
But before we get into the technicality of building reports in NetSuite, let’s first understand why finance teams need flexibility to create and manipulate NetSuite reports.
Side note: Does NetSuite manage Fund Reporting?
In short, NetSuite does offer fund reporting capabilities within the standard set-up if your NetSuite system administrator is able to configure bespoke reports. That is to say that between the comprehensive GL capabilities and additional features (e.g., custom segments) NetSuite provides a tremendous platform to structure your organisation to categorize and analyze transactions from multiple perspectives.
Configuring and maintaining these reports within NetSuite’s reporting interface can be a technical and time-heavy task.
In the US, you can obtain more off-the-shelf accounting and reporting capabilities with NetSuite for Government. However, reports still need to be configured to meet your specific requirements.
Many non-profit organizations utilize Solution 7 to create reporting templates in Excel which align with legislative requirements, allowing them to easily produce their reports and submissions with a click of the ‘Refresh Data’ button.
Why finance teams need to be able to tailor their own reports
We love this topic. Every day, we speak with frustrated CFOs and controllers who are locked in a seemingly endless cycle of not being able to make quick changes to key reports despite having access to all the data they need.
Often, their requirement is as simple as adding a field to a report (a field which they can physically see in NetSuite but can’t or don’t know how to easily add it to the report layout), simply changing the layout slightly, and/or adding some basic calculations or charts to improve the flow of the report. But without the time and NetSuite technical knowhow, they just can’t get it over the line.
In short, to answer the question of why finance teams need to be able to tailor their own reports, there are two key reasons:
The world is moving faster than it has ever moved, and it’s still accelerating. We have more data available than ever before, and expectations (both customer and colleague) have evolved in line. Finance teams are not only expected, but required, to produce and analyze more reports with more depth than ever before, working as close to ‘live’ as possible and with complete accuracy.
Finance people understand finance, very few others do (properly) If you’re reading this as a finance professional you know what we mean (if you’re not a finance professional, please don’t be offended). The truth is that finance and accounting are justifiably complex.
Whilst most finance professionals we work with are delighted to have more agility and flexibility in how they post and process transactions, the core principles of accounting need to be maintained as they rightly impose structure, control, and security.
So, you need to understand these rules and principles to build reports which are both operationally effective and compliant. Asking a non-finance specialist to build reports can result in lengthy delays (as technical colleagues get to grips with what is required) or reports which do not hit the mark.
In our experience, unfortunately, it is often both – which leaves finance teams having to pick up the pieces and make do with manually configured reports via data exports and manual copying and pasting. (This is not a criticism, it’s the reality of the situation and it could be argued that it is unfair on all parties involved to expect anything different).
The technical aspect of building finance reports in NetSuite
This topic of conversation is essentially a perfect extension of the previous point, albeit coming from the opposite perspective.
It can be easy to overlook, particularly when using a system like NetSuite which is so visual and dashboard-focussed, that NetSuite is essentially a database.
The system can only provide the level of functionality, company structures, automations and ability to configure and customize due to the myriad of fields, tables and joins on which it is developed.
In the real world, this is exactly what leads to the situations mentioned in the previous section relating to challenges when simply adding fields, charts or narrative to any report. Just because fields sit next to each other on-screen in a company, customer, inventory, or transaction record, they do not necessarily live next to each other in the database, or exist, in tables which are joined in the backend.
Whilst the report editor is excellent, it cannot simply provide a blank screen and every single field available in the system – this on its own wouldn’t provide the solution. NetSuite would then have to also develop the capability to relate each field to its counterparts whilst also creating additional functions to manage calculations, averages, sums etc.
(…in case that sounds familiar, we’re essentially describing Excel, which you probably know is now almost 40 years on-market and is arguably the most powerful software application on the planet. Not an easy or necessary undertaking to re-develop).
The fact is that NetSuite is developed to support millions of users every day. It cannot provide the structure, processes, flexibility and scalability required by these users whilst simultaneously providing a completely open-source interface.
So, whilst we’re being fair in our expectations of technical and finance colleagues alike, let’s also be fair to NetSuite. It more than delivers on its core purpose. As a result, it does mean that sometimes what feels like a basic request may require a more technical solution.
Side note: The evolving role of CFOs and Controllers
Whilst the role of CFOs and controllers is evolving to include a much larger focus on the business tech stack than ever before (you can read more of our insights on that in our NetSuite CFO reporting blog), the default skillset and priority for CFOs and controllers should remain in financial management and analysis.
In the same way it is unfair to expect NetSuite to be everything to everyone, or technical colleagues to have the knowledge and experience required to build finance reports, it’s equally unrealistic to expect senior finance professionals to also be truly technical database experts.
We’re sure you can see where the conversation about Excel comes in, but first, let’s look at the final topic of conversation which we discuss every day.
Distribution of finance reports to non-NetSuite users
Again, on this front, NetSuite provides more than most of its competitors as standard –whether that is printing reports to PDF, exporting to Excel or Word, or even scheduling reports to be emailed to recipients (regardless of whether they are a NetSuite user or not).
This point however combines the underlying themes of the article.
It is not that non-NetSuite users cannot receive reports from NetSuite. It is that some of the frustrations of finance teams in not being able to create the specific versions of reports they want are only amplified when they share a static version of that report with colleagues.
Finance users can at least navigate NetSuite to view live data and answer their questions. Sharing the reports with non-NetSuite users only results in questions about the data and requests to alter the report structure (and so begins the journey outlined in section one, all over again).
Alternatively, colleagues could be given access to NetSuite. Realistically, the cost of purchasing licenses, never mind the familiarisation and training required, for someone to view and interact with reports monthly is rarely justifiable or sensible.
In addition, and similarly to the point regarding database structure, again, not all standard reports can be easily packaged together in the same format or pack. As a result, finance teams need to complete the manual processes of piecing everything together to ensure they share a strong, coherent document with colleagues and board members.
How a NetSuite Excel reporting tool provides the perfect companion
Well, it tackles each of the key threads of conversation so far. We are not advocating that Excel should replace NetSuite standard reporting, so much as function alongside it to provide the complete toolkit required by finance teams.
In terms of core financial reports, this is exactly (and we cannot overstate this) what Excel was developed to do. It is a financial management and number processing software. Almost every function developed in the solution has been done so to enable the user to place numbers next to each other and analyze them in any way they want.
Extending that into the need for flexibility…
Whilst we do not believe in sweeping generalizations, more often than not, finance professionals, particularly those in senior positions have spent a lot of time in Excel and are at least generally capable of using it to manipulate data.
So, if you can provide a finance professional with access to the data they need within Excel, they can usually produce reports quickly, and often deliver them with bells, whistles and additional queries or outputs which you didn’t even think of, without having to distract or wait on a colleague to attempt their request.
This is where the “NetSuite Excel reporting tool” phrase is important.
NetSuite exists, so does Excel, and so does NetSuite SuiteAnalytics Connect ODBC to connect the two. This however only bridges half the gap. Whilst integrating NetSuite to Excel provides access to the NetSuite backend from Excel, it still then requires a technical knowledge of the database structure to find and use the necessary fields.
A NetSuite Excel reporting tool (like Solution 7) provides an interface which allows NetSuite users to access any field via an easy to navigate pop-up and simply point and click to insert any NetSuite field into any Excel cell.
Having access to this kind of tool makes it much simpler to build and access reports both for the user as an individual, but also for their teams and colleagues. What’s more, with an ODBC integration users can create templated reports which can be refreshed to pull up-to-date data with the click of a button. This means that whoever is accessing the report can essentially work on live (or almost live figures) rather than static and historical data.
To address the final point regarding distribution of reports. Obviously, if a report is in Excel, it can be easily shared with anyone you wish, and this applies to a one-off report, or a recurring report.
Realistically, the advantage of this really comes if we pick up on the concept of pre-defined refreshable templates.
It is common for users to create report packs to suit each format required (e.g., a board pack). The only question about distribution of reports is then whether you give other users access to the refreshable report, or a static copy of the report. Either way, with the click of a button, the entire pack can be populated with up-to-date data and saved to a central location or emailed to recipients with no manual manipulation required.
Summary
In our experience, it is the combination (or lack thereof) of available time and ‘technical’ NetSuite knowledge which prevents most finance teams from owning their own reporting in NetSuite.
We are massive fans of NetSuite and recognize the power of the native reporting options. Simultaneously, we work every day with finance professionals who need quicker access, and more flexibility, to create core finance reports as well as company, or industry-specific versions of those reports.
Implementing a NetSuite Excel finance reporting solution gives teams the best of both worlds by ensuring they can create reports exactly as needed and share them with colleagues without leaning heavily on technical colleagues.
Comments