In this blog, we'll guide you through the commonly asked question of building a Trial Balance in Excel, ensuring you capture the full balance rather than just the period movements. These steps are demonstrated by Solution 7’s Co-founder, Simon Miles, if you'd like to view this demonstration, you can watch the video here.
For more quick guides, you can explore the full playlist here: Ask the Expert Webinar Series.
How to pull through balances as opposed to period movement in a Trial Balance.
To pull balances in NetSuite, both the "From Period" and "To Period" fields need to be filled. Note: If only the "From Period" is inputted, you'll get movement data rather than the balance.
Set the "From Period" to the earliest possible date. The reason for this is that balances are not actually stored in NetSuite, instead, Solution 7 rolls up the totals from the data and provides the balances – so we need to give it access to all the data available. (In the video we set this from FY 2001.)
Set the "To Period" to the ending period you want to include, which will retrieve the balance up to that point. (In the video we set this to December 2023).
Tip: As mentioned, by only selecting the “from period” you will get movement data rather than balance. This is insightful for viewing cash flow and bank account data, as well as Profit and Loss (P&L) statements when analysing month-to-month or quarter-to-quarter changes.
The system will then roll up balances from FY 2001 to December 2023.
Note: that NetSuite does not store balances for these periods directly, therefore balances need to be calculated, referred to as, "on the fly."
Review the results.
Click "OK" and double-click the results to see that rather than showing the movement for December 2023, it should show the balance as the end of 2023.
For the full walkthrough watch, Simon, the co-founder of Solution 7, demonstrate how to create a NetSuite Trial Balance for Excel, in a step-by-step guide.
To see how Solution 7 enhanced financial reporting and budgeting in Excel for a business like Certified Collision, read our case study.
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