FINANCIAL USER CERTIFICATION EXAM STUDY GUIDE

SUBSIDIARIES, CLASSIFICATIONS & CHART OF ACCOUNTS

 Recognize what a subsidiary is, types & how they are used
o Subsidiary = separate legal entity
o Elimination Sub – Nets out income/expense entries between subs – keeps books correct
 Only JEs (no transactions)
o Can have 125 subsidiaries total (Elimination do NOT count)
o Subsidiaries are rolled up to the parent for consolidated reporting
o Before you create, plan the hierarchy & diagram the parent-child relationships. Create a
visual representation & always build proposed in Sandbox first (don’t experiment in
production account).
 Once made, cannot change:
 Subsidiary of (Parent Sub)
 Elimination
 Currency
 Edition
 Country
 Cannot delete. Inactive subs will show in reports
 Identify the general functionality of classifications on transactions & reporting
o Classifications: used to identify & categorize records; enables better organization of data for
reporting; give ownership to a transaction
o Must enable the use (Enable Features)
o In OneWorld, sub = default classifications
o Departments:
 Listed 1st on transactions
 Designate as part of an internal team (Ex. Accounting, Sales, Marketing)
 Can rename
o Classes:
 For wider segments within your business (ex. Retail sales, web sales, seasonal sales)
 Can rename
o Locations:
 Associate with location (transaction or employee)
 Save for inventory; don’t change too much
o Reports can track/measure against 1 or combo of classifications
 Use to facilitate requirements for segmenting financial reporting  simplified GL &
fewer posting errors, but same flexibility
o Segment data to meet financial reporting needs
o Don’t create classification records unnecessarily
 Identify implications of set up & restricting access to chart of accounts
o CoA: provides a set of destinations for posting transactions & categorizes them for
tracking/reporting
 o CoA Setup: Before creating new accounts, consider…
 Did NS auto create one based on enabled features?
 How to organize the hierarchy for each account types?
 Use account numbering?
 Limit to specific classifications?
 Summary account?
 Track non-monetary data to use on reports/statements?
o Restricting Access:
 Can limit to department, class, location, subset of subsidiaries
 Role restrictions
o CoA Best Practices:
 Review feature-specific, system generated accounts prior to creating new accounts
 Use common CoA across subs
 Unify #s across subs (is using)
 Identify the impact of setting the account type
o Each account must be assigned a type
o Account Types:

Account Type Income Statement Balance Sheet Cash Flow

Cost of Goods Sold X
Expense X
Other Expense X
Income X X
Other Income X X
Accounts Payable X X
Accounts Receivable X X
Bank X
Credit Card X
Deferred Expense X
Deferred Revenue X
Equity X X
Fixed Asset X X
Long Term Liability X X
Other Asset X X
Other Current Asset X X
Other Current
X X
Liability
Unbilled Receivable X X

 Statistical Account: use non-monetary data on reports and income statements

o Account Numbers: default = not enabled
 When enabled, 4-digit account numbers auto assigned
 1xxx – asset
 2xxx – liability
 3xxx – equity
 4xxx – income
 5xxx – COGS
 6xxx – expense
  8xxx – other income accounts
o Parent Accounts = solely for reporting
 Check ‘Summary’ to make a reporting account record  auto inactivates the
account
 Summary = useful when want to create a non-posting, inactive parent account that
has active child records
o Account Registers = list of transactions for particular account w/ date range & ending
balance
 For posting & non-posting
 Use to review & manage accounting periods
ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE

 Recognize steps in NS standard AR process flow

o Sales Rep: enters Sales Order (to be approved by exec)  SO Pending Approval
o AR Clerk: Enters SO  SO Pending Fulfillment
o Warehouse: Fulfills Items for SO  SO Pick, Pack, Ship  Customer receives Items
o AR Clerk: Bills SO > Invoice  Invoice Sent to Customer
o AR Clerk: Accepts customer payment (payment not deposited)  Customer makes payment
o Accountant: Deposits payments (Full or partial)  bank receives money
 Identify considerations when setting up customer records
o Customer = company or individual who has previously purchased goods/services or is for the
first time
o On record, can track…
 Transaction history
 Items purchased
 Financial info
 File cabinet documents
 Identify steps in creating NS invoices
o Customers > Sales > Create Invoices
o Invoicing = process of creating bills
o Record invoice when no customer payment is received at the time of delivery
 Amount = total due to be paid to you by customer – represented by
 Identify steps in accepting customer payments
o Billing turns SO into invoice
 AR increased by amount of bill
o When customer makes a payment, record it & apply to appropriate invoice or cash sale
 Applying a payment decreases amount due & tracks income
o Customers > AR > Accept Customer Payments
o Customers > Sales > Create Invoice > List
 Identify steps & GL impact in accepting customer deposits
o Deposits are recorded as liability until goods delivered
o Doesn’t affect customer’s AR balance
o Once order filled, deposit applied against invoice & liability it cancelled out
o To Deposit:
 Customers > AR > Record Customer Deposit
 Customers > Sales > Enter Sales Order > List > Specific sales order
 Identify steps of credit & refund process
o When you receive an item on return, you can credit the customer in the amount they paid
for the item in either of the 2 ways depending on return authorization
o Credit Memo – record of a credit a customer is due
 Amount can be applied to invoice to decrease amount owed
o Refund – transaction that records a payment you make to a customer (typ. Currency/check)
BILLING SCHEDULES

 Identify steps in setting up & applying billing schedules

o Billing Schedules = defines schedule or bill a sale over a range of time or contract term
 Manages billing process – when to invoice & how much to bill
 Can be applied to entire sales order or different billing schedule for each line item on
an order
 Can be added to an item record so it auto shows on SO when item is selected
o Requires enabling the Advanced Billing feature
o Financials > Lists > Billing Schedules > New
 Set Schedule Details:
 Type
 Initial Amount & Payment Terms
 Recurrence Frequency & Count
 In Arrears
o Check = @ end of period
o Uncheck = @ beginning of period
o Types of Billing Schedules:
 Standard (SO only)
 Breaks into separate bills that can be invoices or cash sales
 Fixed Bid Interval (projects only)
 Invoice at predefined intervals; in arrears only
 Fixed Bid Milestone (specific project use only)
 Can only be created from project record
 Invoice in increments when milestones are reached
 Time & Materials (project use only)
 Bill customers for actual time worked on a project
 Billing dates selected in schedule
 Charge Based (project use only)
 Creates charge to bill to customers
 Can be fixed fee, time based, expense based
o Best Practices:
 Avoid creating single line item schedules
 Create a naming convention for billing schedules that adequately identify them
ACCOUNTS PAYABLE

 Recognize steps in NS standard AP process flow

o Employee/Warehouse: Purchase Requisition Entered & Approved
o Purchasing: PO Created
 PO Sent to Vendor
 Accounting: Credit Purchasing & Debit Inventory
o Employee/Warehouse: Receive Items – Inspect Goods (send back if bad)
o Purchasing: Approval Payable
o Accounting: Bill PO
 Credit AP & Debit Inventory
 Credit Unbilled Inventory Received & Debit Inventory
o Accounting: Process Payment (Print Check/ACH)
 Credit Checking & Debit AP
 Send Check
 Identify considerations when setting up vendor records
o Vendors > Lists > Vendors > New
o Use vendor records to…
 Track associated items & pricing
 Track addresses, financial data, purchase transactions, CRM info
 Attach/track files
o NS keeps running balance for each vendor based on bills you have entered & payments you
have made
o OneWorld: can share vendors across subs or assign to a specific
 Can assign a primary sub & unlimited secondary
 When viewing a shared vendor record, you can see the vendor’s total outstanding
balance & total unbilled balance in primary sub’s currency
 Identify steps in creating NS purchase orders & bill
o POs – express commitment to order & pay for goods/services
 no accounting impact until order is received
o can create a bill from a PO
o or without a PO – do manually: Vendors > Purchases > Enter Bills
o Approve Vendor Bills:
 Approved by users w/ appropriate permissions
 Bulk: Vendors > purchases > approve bills
 Single: edit bill & update approval status
 Identify steps in paying vendors
o Multiple: Vendors > AP > Pay Bills
o Single: Vendors > AP > Pay Single Vendor
o Vendor Credits:
 Credit can be applied toward payables
 3 ways to create…
 Manually – discount/credit negotiated after receiving a bill, or independent
of an existing bill
  Vendor Bill – for some/all of an existing bill
 Vendor Return – through Vendor Return Authorization process
 Credits applied against a vendor decreases the amount owed to a vendor
 Credit Transaction
o Auto Apply: credit to oldest bill due
o Apply Subtab: Check Apply > to specific bill
 Bill Payment
o Check the ‘Pay’ box for each bill you want to pay & credit you want
to apply
 Single Vendor Payment
o Check ‘Apply’ box for each bill you want to pay & credit you want to
apply
o Write Checks: (Vendors > Purchases > Write Checks)
 Use to …
 Pay expenses
 Record non-check transactions
 Record cash transactions
 Enter other non-check debits
 Saving check transaction records the expense directly you out books by…
 Debit Expense Account spec. in transaction detail
 Credit Bank Account selected for the check
 Void Checks (Vendor Record > Financial subtab > Transactions > Edit Check > Void)
 Must create voiding JE
 Once voided, amount set to 0 but not removed from system
 Reasons to Void:
o Account for price adjustments
o Stop payment
o Check/payment created in error
o Payment Methods

Feature $ comes from $ goes to Payment processed by

Online Bill Pay Your company Your vendor Printed check
ACH Vendor Pay Your company Your vendor ACH process
Direct Deposit Your company Your employee ACH process
Electronic Your company Your vendor, Your company’s bank
Payments your employee

 Payables Best Practices:

o Establish policies/procedures & document entire process
o Pay invoices on predetermined schedule
o Ensure transaction * posting dates are in correct acct. period
o Reconcile ledgers for accuracy of recorded transactions
 Adjustments should always be made in subledger, not through a JE
BANKING & PAYMENT PROCESSING

 Recognize steps in NS default banking transactions

o Make Deposits:
 To record funds deposited into your bank you can select payments from existing
transactions, add funds not related to trans payments & record any cash received
from the bank
o Typically, customer payments are posted to the Undeposited Funds account rather than to a
specific account
 Prevents lag time between the amount shown on your books & the bank balance
 NS moves funds out of the Undeposited Funds account to the ledger account for the
bank account
o Bank Transfers: (Financial > Banking > Transfer Funds)
 Between 2 bank accounts if share the same currency
 Between base currency bank account to any foreign currency bank account
o CC Charges: Vendors > Purchases > Use Credit Card
 Identify steps to reconcile monthly bank & CC statements in NS
o Reconcile Bank Statements: (Financial > Banking > Reconcile Bank Statements)
 Against bank account registers to keep accounts accurate
 On statement page, have options: Reset, Complete later, refresh, history, delete, go
to register, enter new transactions
 All reconciled transactions are automatically marked cleared
o Reconcile Credit Card Statements: (Financial > Banking > Reconcile CC Statements)
 Includes verifying transactions on your CC account & your ledger account
 Payments & credits
 Charge & cash advances
 Fees & chargebacks
o Reconciliation Reports:
 Bank Register Report
 Lists all trans for particular account; existing; view-only
 Reconciliation Summary Report
 Summarizes reconciled & unreconciled items from a bank account
 Viewable only after account has been reconciled
 Reconciliation Detail Report
 Lists reconciled & unreconciled items from a bank account
 Viewable only after account has been reconciled
 Reconciliation History Report
 Lists the completed reconciliations for a bank account
 NOT in reports menu (Financials > Banking > Reconciled Bank Statements)
 View statement balances, link to the detail report & track historical rec. data
 Payment Processing

Feature $ Comes from $ Goes to Processed By Processor

EFT Customer Company ACH Process Coastal
Credit Card Customer Company CC Network CC Gateway
Paypal Express Customer Company PayPal PayPal
Direct Deposit Company Employee ACH Coastal
ACH Vendor Company Vendor ACH Coastal
Online Bill Pay Company Vendor Printed check Metavante
Electronic Payments Company Vendor; employee Company’s bank Company’s bank or
(Make) affiliated processor
Electronic Payments Customer Company Company’s bank Company’s bank or
(Receive) affiliated processor

o ACH:
 Enables you to pay an expense, record a non-check or cash transaction
 Take place in real time over the Internet
 Immediate accounting impact
o EFT:
 Enables customers to authorize the transfer of funds from their bank accounts to
yours to pay invoices
 To use: feature must be activated; apply to Coastal for ACH processing account; set
up customer records for ACH payments
 Submitting a cash sale. Sales order or customer payment w/ EFT selected as payment
method  EFT transaction that must be approved by an Admin before it can be
processed for payment
 ACH Vendor Payments:
 To authorize transfer of funds from your bank account into your vendors to
pay bills
 To use: activate the feature; apply to Coastal; set up vendor records for ACH
payments
 Vendor payments must be approved by an admin or user with Approve Vendor
Payments permission
o Credit Card Processing:
 Integrates several gateways
 Gateway manages flow of data & funds electronically between you, customer &
processor
o Electronic Payments:
 SuiteApp – extended processing capabilities of EFT & ACH features
 Using the SuiteApp, can:
 Generate payment files that contain instructions for facilitating EFT between
accounts
 Provides check verification feature by generating file format that contains
info on all your issued checks
 Does not transmit bank payment formats to the bank
 Payment Processing Best Practices:
o Reconciliation reports should always match your bank statements
o Ensure transactions are cleared & reconciled before closing a period
JOURNAL ENTRIES

 Recognize how JEs are used

o NS enforces double entry JEs
 JEs must balance
o Use JEs when transactions don’t accommodate your needs
 Enter/adjust opening balances
 Post accruals
 Adjustments (i.e. Depreciation)
 Account transfers between ledger accounts
 Consolidation of subsidiary accounts for reporting
o Accounting Preferences
 Void transactions using reversing JEs
 Require approvals on JEs
 Use D/C/L classifications
 Always allow per-line classifications on JE
 Allow non-balancing classifications on JE
 Allow empty classifications on JE
 Create revenue recognition JE in GL
 Provides choice for posting detail on summary JEs
o Financial > Other > Make JEs
 Use JEs to process simple journal transactions
 Remember principles of double-entry
o NO LINE LIMIT – as long as it balances
o Reversing JEs
 Exact opposite of original JE
 Debit becomes a credit and vice-versa
 Permanently linked to original entry
 Any changes to original entry affects the reversing entry
o Copying JEs
 Pre-populates header and line-level data
 Financial > Other > Make JE > List
 View > Actions > Make Copy
o Approving JEs
 Financial > Other > Approve JEs
 JE posts to GL only after approval
 Users with Journal Approval permission can approve their own JEs while entering
them
o Import JEs
 Financial > Other > Make JEs > Import
 Good option for large JE or if JE needs to be repeated often
 Source document must be saved as a CSV file
 Supports JEs up to 10,000 lines
 Cautions***
  Performance impact for JE > 1000 lines
 Large JEs may not be editable in UI
o Bill Variance JEs
 Vendor > Purchases > Post Vendor Bill Variances
 Once variances are posted, POs, Receipts, and Vendor Bills cannot be modified
o Memorized Transactions
 Recurring transaction
 Eliminate data entry process
 Write checks, enter SOs, make JEs, use CC, create invoices, create statement
charges, enter POs, prepare estimates, enter work orders, enter bills, enter cash sales
 Create memorized transaction template
 Define
o Schedule
o Frequency
o Posting Option
 Post memorized transactions
 Financial > Lists > Enter Memorized Transactions
 Process several transactions at once or individually
 Review memorized transactions
 Financial > Lists > Enter Memorized Transaction
o List > View > Show History
 Recognize differences between elimination & IC JEs in set up & usage
o Intercompany JEs
 Facilitates transfers between subsidiaries
 Adjust value of any set accounts without entering transactions
 Typically, include same IC account on each subsidiary
o When consolidated reports are generated account is zeroed
 Cannot be created if they include an elimination subsidiary
 Used for many reasons
 Transfer
o Between bank accounts of separate subsidiaries
o Assets between subsidiaries
o Revenue when one subsidiary sells on behalf of another
o Expenses when one subsidiary pays an expense on behalf of
another
o Elimination JEs
 Regular JE, except associated with an Elimination Subsidiary
 GL accounts must also be available to the appropriate Elimination Subsidiary
 Automated vs Manual Elimination JEs
 Financial > Other > Make JEs
 Depends upon
o Complexity of your organization
o How frequently you trade between subsidiaries
 o The nature of the trading between subsidiaries
 Manual appropriate for organizations that trade rarely
o Require manual tracking of which JE need elimination and how
much needs to be eliminated
o NS does not perform a validation of entries
 Automatic Elimination
o Reduces need to manually create, track and eliminate
o Manual steps required to manage and report IC activity
o As part of period close, NS evaluates activity in IC accounts and
creates JEs to eliminate artificial profit and loss amounts
 Best Practices
o Copy to save time
o Import JEs that are large or need to be repeated
o Create memorized transactions for JE that recur
o Ensure IC JEs balance between subsidiaries and within each subsidiary involved in the IC JE
o Create manual elimination for organizations that rarely trade
o Setup customer/vendor relationships for all subsidiaries when you need to track inter-
subsidiary trading
BUDGETING

 Identify steps to create & report on budgets

o In NS each budget covers a year
 Permits entry of amount, per account, for each accounting period in the year
 Create budgets for subsidiaries (OneWorld)
 Create budgets for D/C/L, items, and customers or projects
 Enter budgets for statistical accounts
 Setup budgets within NS or use CSV
 Base budgets on a previous budget or financials
 Create multiple budgets for the same period and combination of criteria
o Set budget details
 Financial > Lists > Set Up Budgets

Set Mandatory Fields Define Optional Fields Select Account Types

 Subsidiary  Customer/Project  Income & Expense
(OneWorld)  Item  Income
 Year  D/C/L  Expense
 Budget Category  Balance Sheet
 Existing
 All

o Enter Budget Amount

 Individually for each month
 Fill: To copy an amount entered in 1st month to all months for an account
 Distribute: Evenly divide an amount entered in 1st month to all months for an
account
 Clear: Clear existing values
o Create Budget in Preferred Tool
 Import as CSV to create NS budget records
 Account name must exactly match account name in chart of accounts
 If using subaccounts, use naming convention
o Parent: Child Account
 No account #s
 If multiple budgets enabled, category is mandatory
 Year format must match
o Setup > Accounting > Manage Accounting Preferences
 #/amounts must not contain commas or dollar signs ($)
o Import into NS
 Financial > Lists > Set Up Budgets > Import
 Use import assist
 Select the file
 Review the auto-mappings of CSV file fields to NS fields
 Monitor error handling
 Check the status of an import job
  Importing
 Can be done in sections
o You don’t have to import the whole budget at once
 Runs as a background task
o Copy budgets
 Financial > Lists > Copy budgets
 Keep/remove classification details
 Increase/decrease amounts by a %
 Separate by account type
o Multiple budgets
 NS only allows one budget per fiscal year when the Multiple Budgets feature is not
enabled
 Enabling feature
 More than one budget/year can be created maintained
 Categories are created to name the budge
 Budget categories can be chosen when generating budget reports
o Create budget categories
 Budget categories are your potential outcomes
 Create as many as you need
o Name them appropriately to reflect the scenario
 Legacy is the default category assigned to any budget created prior to
enabling the Multiple Budgets feature
 Setup > Other Setup > Accounting Lists > New OR set the filter Type to Budget
Category and click New
o Working with Subsidiary Budgets in OneWorld
 More complex in OW
 Create separate budgets and track results for each of your subsidiaries –
including elimination subsidiaries
 Budget categories can be defined as local or global
o Local budgets
 1 subsidiary only
 Entered and held in currency of subsidiary
o Global budgets
 Entered and held in currency of root subsidiary
 Budget exchange rate is used to translate budget amounts
o This table stores the budget exchange rates for each subsidiary base
currency in relation to the currency used by its parent subsidiary,
for each period
o Elimination Subsidiary Budgets
 Use case: you create a budget on an elimination subsidiary to track how much IC
activity is going on
 If your eliminations exceed budget, you know there is more IC activity going
on than you initially thought
o Best Practices
 Use CSV for complex budgets or large COAs
 Make minor amendments within NS
 Use copy budgets as basis for new budgets
 Ensure employee permissions restrict unauthorized budget editing
EXPENSE ALLOCATIONS

 Identify steps in setting up & applying expense allocations

o When enabled, expense allocation allows for automatic distribution of expenses without
having to split them among individual D/C/L classifications after they are incurred
 Reassignment of the expenses are achieved through automated JEs generated from
a pre-defined allocation schedule
o Usage considerations
 Is the amount allocated from one/several accounts?
 When you allocate the amount from the source, do you want to move the amount
or allocate for reporting purposes?
 Is the amount allocated into one/several accounts?
 Do you want to enter a % as a weight value for each destination account or D/C/L
classification?
o Create an expense allocation schedule
 Financial > Lists > Create Allocation Schedules
 Set schedule details
 Frequency
 Source
 Destination
o Create Intercompany Allocation Schedules
 Financial > Lists > Create ICAS
 ICAS are created similarly to EAS except
 Only one source subsidiary can be set
 Relevant IC accounts must be selected on source and destination
subsidiaries
o Process Purchase Transactions
 Allocation Schedules are not linked to a particular purchase transaction
 Purchase transactions are process following standard business workflow
 Expenditures are then allocated (or transferred) according to the schedule
o Create Expense Allocation Journal Entry
 Financial > Lists > Create AS > List
 Click view next to Allocation due
o On the AS, click create JE
o View Allocation History
 History subtab on AS
o Best Practices
 Before setting up AS, determine if source account needs to be zeroed out
 Ensure all destination D/C/L are setup correctly
 OneWorld, before setting up an ICAS make sure the destination accounts are
available to the destination subsidiaries
 Use the Reminders portlet to let you know when an AS is due
FINANCIAL REPORTS & KPIS

 Identify elements unique to Financial Report Builder Interface

o Header & Summary Rows – defined as one
 May contain financial sections
o Financial Section – contains section name, account rows & total row; each account type
o Defining section = specifying accounts that display in it
 Use criteria (account type) to position accounts
 NS totals all transactions in all the accounts chosen for the date period selected
o Formula Rows – display a calculation based on values of other rows
 Can include any row in a statement
o Text Row – display static text or blank row
o Reference Rows – display value referenced from a section or row (for BS & CF)
 KPIs = measurement or count of one your business metrics
o Shows key variances & over-time trends
o Helps identify trends so you can make course corrections in timely fashion
o NS provides 75+ pre-packaged KPIs based on NS standard reports
o Track info to spot trends in your business
o Are role & feature based
 Configure KPIs (in dashboard portlet)
o Move up/down
o Turn on/off comparisons
o Set date range + compare range
o Choose employees to display data for
o Setup highlight + threshold functionality
o Headlines to give extra prominence to certain KPIs
 Analyze KPI Data – if your KPI is set to compare one date range against the other, change is
calculated for you
o NS indicates positive changes in green & warns you of negative changes in red
o Not refreshed automatically
 Best Practices:
o Financial statements
 Design before you create/customize
 Create header + summary rows first
 Use blank text rows to give prominence to data in your financial statements
o KPIs
 Portlet at top of wide column in home DB
 Place KPIs in a logical order in portlet
 Date ranges should complement each other in comparisons
PERIOD & YEAR END CLOSE

 Recognize the NS recommended practices around period close & accounting/tax period structure
o Period Close Process:
 Period Locking
 Lock AR – prevents posting to AR, w/o impacting AP or GL
 Lock AP – prevents posting to AP, w/o impacting AR or GL
 Lock payroll
 Lock All – prevents posting to AP, AR & GL
 Subsidiary Level Adjustment
 Resolve period-date mismatch
 Inventory revaluation
o Resolve Date/Period Mismatch – reconcile what’s not in the right
period
o Review Negative Inventory – adjust to be positive
 Doesn’t create a physical count
 Can mark complete even if some counts remain negative;
will log date/user of who marked it complete
o Resolve Date/Period Mismatch – run costing & accounting process
for period close
o Review Negative Inventory – Inventory Accounting Detail Report
o Review Inventory Cost Accounting
 Ensure no costing items need to be corrected – must wait
until resolved
 Process status = not running
 Costing calculations have completed
o Review Inventory Activity
 Opens customizable version of Inventory Activity Detail
Report
 Provides view of specific inventory values
 Details are based on item level total inventory value
in specific subsidiary context
 Foreign currency revaluation
o Revalue Open Foreign Currency Balances calc. effects of exchange
rate fluctuations on open balances
 Determines unrealized gains & losses
 Can ‘Include Children’
 Financial Consolidation
 Intercompany expense allocation (OneWorld)
 Consolidated exchange rate (OneWorld)
o For consolidated reporting
o Auto calculation rechecks rates from which consolidated rates were
derived & updates accordingly
o Once closed, cannot be changed
  Intercompany transaction auto-elimination
o BEFORE – run Intercompany Reconciliation Report
 To identify problems w/ IC transfers (unmatched or
incorrectly matched IC transfers)
o Intercompany Elimination Report = Audit Trail of IC Eliminations for
the period – run after posting to view source transfer marked for
elimination & resulting JEs
 GL Audit Numbering (when enabled = required task; Enable Features)
o Applies gapless numbering sequences to all GL postings
 To meet international audit requirements
o Only for last month of fiscal year, period or quarter
 Period Closing
 Close Period
o All other tasks must be completed before ‘Close’
o All prior periods must be closed
o Once closed, no one can post transactions to the period (NOT admin
or users w/ override permission)
 Non-GL Posting Change
o Typical Period End Tasks
 Checking/finalizing sales & purchases data entry
 Running & distributing reports
 Generating customer statements
 Customers > AR > Generate or Individual Statements
 Send statements to remind to pay their invoices
 Statement = transactions; invoices, finance charges, credit memos,
payments received; aging summary w/ how long each amt has been due
 Running stock adjustments
 Completing bank, cash & deferred revenue reconciliations
 Updating budget features
 Completing VAT/GST statements
o Period Close Checklists
 Setup > Accounting > Manage Accounting Periods > select right calendar & click icon
 For regular & adjustment periods
 Closing all periods auto close quarter (same for closing year)
 Simple tasks that have 2 states (check/uncheck) can be set by drilling down from
checklist (AP, AR, Payroll, GL)
 Identifies dependencies between tasks
o Accounting Period States:
 Open/Unlocked – transactions can be posted by any user (standard role permission)
 Open/Locked – additional level of control; Override Period Restrictions permission
required to edit/post; locking can be done by subsidiary
 Closed – no one can make GL changes
o Inventory Period Close Tasks:
o Year End Close:
  Done by closing the last period – not a separate process
 Closing for the year…
 Ends opportunity to post transactions to al ledgers
 Allows transfer of Net Income to Retained Earnings or Owner’s Equity
 Finalizes books on fiscal year for reporting purpose
 Items purchases
 Prevents further posting to fiscal year
 Typical Tasks:
 Accruals in place
 Vendor bills posted by year end close date
 Customers billed for unbilled revenue
 Conducting physical inventory counts
 Adjusting tax rates for the new year
 Preparing applicable year end reports
 Automatic vs. Manual Year End Close
 Automatic – NS does it; strongly recommended – enables historical reports
for any year @ any time
o Retained Earnings = system account that can’t be
substituted/deleted
o On Balance Sheet: RE + NI > cumulative RE balance @ any time
 NI from prior year – displayed in RE account
 NI from current year – displayed in NI accout
 Manual – by making JEs to close accounts; restricts ability to run historical
reports
o Reopening a Closed Period
 Must be reopened before any changes can be made – needs Override Period
Restriction permission
 Select ‘Close’ > enter justification (mandatory)
 May need to redo checklist tasks to close again
 If subsequent periods have been closed, those will be reopened too
o System & User Notes
 System Notes = logged automatically
 Can be viewed on each individual task or all tasks for a period
 User Notes can be added manually
o Creating a new fiscal year
 Best practice = set up full year (all periods)
 Set: fiscal calendar, fiscal year end, period format, year in period name, one-day year
end adjustment period
o Best Practices:
 Create checklist of organization’s required tasks
 Use NS period end checklist properly
 Close periods in timely manner
 If reopening, sufficient justification required
 Use automatic close for YE
  Use set up full year
 Ensure processes & record keeping conform to all legal requirements for justification
 Recognize options for separately managing multiple subs & multiple fiscal calendars
o Multiple Calendars (One World) = different reporting calendars
 Respects quarterly & yearly reporting needs on subsidiary basis
 Defines fiscal calendar w/ start & end periods
 Links calendar to subsidiary records
 1 sub > 1 calendar; 1 calendar > multiple subs
o No huge impact on period end – periods are shown across calendars
 Doesn’t matter which fiscal calendar is selected, if you have multiple fiscal calendars
w/ different start & end periods, can only run GL numbering for calendars which are
in the last month of the period
o With Multi Book, can independently close & reopen periods associated w/ any Accounting
book w/o impacting your other accounting periods
 Unique checklists become available for each accounting book
SMART DASHBOARDS

 Display relevant & real time data leveraging various SuiteAnalytics solutions
o Reports (KPIs, meters, snapshots)
 Report Snapshots – quick look from DB; only summary reports can be saved as
 KPI Meters – up to 3 on home DB; must be first displayed in KPI portlet
o Saved Searches (custom search portlets, custom KPIs + meters, trend graphs)
 Publish Search – to add to home DB; can have up to 6 custom search portlets
 Trend Graphs = visual presentation of key metrics
 Can place on most standard tabs & any custom
 Cannot be added to tabs that are not used as Standard DBs
 List portlet = saved searches on the DB – click ‘Available on DB view’
 Highlighting & summarized results
 Focuses attention on a particular account
o Reminders – define # of days in advance the reminder should be shown
 Publish Dashboards:
o Must have the permission > publish DB link displays in settings portlet on Home page
o Must be in role w/ same center type for which you are creating the custom DB
 Select settings to apply to DB:
o Lock shortcuts – allow users to add + to reorder links in their shortcuts portlets, but cannot
remove
o Lock new bar (star) – can add/reorder, not remove
o Override existing user’s settings – override current DB + replaces it w/ new DB
 Select tabs to where DB will be published
o Tabbed pages want to publish to
o Select appropriate restriction mode for each tabbed page (unlocked, locked, add/move)
o Save the DB
o Test + edit as necessary