NetClose - Account Grouping Basic Configuration
Overview
A NetClose Account Grouping is a container that determines how a set of accounts is to be reconciled. Users can select settings such as reconciliation frequency, method, due dates, assignees and reviewers, auto-reconciliation criteria, and more. Users map accounts from the Chart of Accounts to a NetClose Account Grouping and those accounts are reconciled according to the settings on the grouping.
In this article, we'll cover how to set up your account groupings at a basic level so you can start performing reconciliations.
Creating Account Groupings
Navigate to NetClose > Setup > Account Groupings & Rules and select the New NetClose Account Grouping button. For now, you'll just need to populate a name, but you can also populate an owner, approver, and set the natural balance of the groupings if you already know them.
Mapping Your Chart of Accounts into Account Groupings
Now, you'll need to assign accounts to the account groupings you have created.
Every account in your Chart of Accounts must be assigned to an account grouping in order to generate reconciliations for any period. This is designed as a completeness check to ensure that all active accounts are mapped to a grouping, including newly created accounts on a go-forward basis. We recommend creating a grouping called "Unreconciled Accounts" for all accounts you do not plan to reconcile.
You can map accounts manually or map them in bulk via NetSuite's native CSV upload (recommended). Both approaches are outlined below.
Manual Mapping
Navigate to any account in your chart of accounts via Lists > Accounting > Accounts. On the account record, you'll see new NetClose-specific fields that were added when NetClose was installed in your environment. Find the field titled NetClose Account Grouping. This field is a dropdown list of all the NetClose account groupings you have active in your instance. Selecting an account grouping will map this account to that grouping and the account will now pull into the Mapped Accounts sublist on the account grouping record.
CSV Import Mapping
For this method, you'll download a CSV of your Chart of Accounts, populate the CSV with the desired mappings, then upload the CSV and update your Chart of Accounts.
First, download your Chart of Accounts as a CSV file.
You will need to delete any empty rows above the column headings, and we recommend deleting any columns not needed for the import. We recommended limiting the CSV data to the internal ID (required), account number, account name, and NetClose Account Grouping (new column we are adding). See example below. Please note that for all account groupings listed, the groupings must have been created previously, and the name must match exactly what is on your account groupings list.
Second, if you have the NetSuite Advanced Field Help extension, you can click on the "Number" field label and set the field as non-mandatory. You can then change the NetClose Account Grouping without any issues, without giving the account a number.
From the NetSuite CSV import screen, select Accounting as the Import Type and Chart of Accounts as the Record Type.
On the Import Options, be sure to select Update, as we are simply updating existing accounts rather than adding new accounts.
Account Grouping Settings
Now that your accounts are mapped, we can move on to applying settings to your account groupings.
At any time, you can view which accounts are mapped to an account grouping by going to the Mapped Accounts subtab. You can even edit the accounts from this sublist. To do so, click the edit button and an editing window for the account object will pop up. This makes it much easier to adjust mapped accounts in the future if you need to make a change.
The information below is organized according to the field groups on the Account Grouping record.
Primary Information
| Name | The name of the account grouping. Can be anything you want it to be. |
| Natural Balance | This is the natural balance (debit or credit) of the mapped accounts. If you have accounts with natural balances that offset, this will be the expected balance of the whole grouping. This setting controls whether debits or credits will be displayed as positive amounts on the reconciliation record (selected option will be a positive amount for accounts in that account grouping). |
| Risk Level | This field is useful for audit or filtering purposes. It doesn't control any functions. |
| *Segregate by Subsidiary | If checked, reconciliations will be created for each subsidiary in your NetSuite instance for this account grouping. For example, if you have a Parent and three child subsidiaries (one of which is an elimination subsidiary), a reconciliation will be generated showing the balance in the mapped accounts split into whichever of the 4 subsidiaries the balance is held in (rather than the consolidated amount). There is some advanced functionality allowing you to separate subsidiaries into functional groups with different rules; read more about this in this article. If you need information about how NetClose Reconciliations handles exchange rates and consolidation, go to this article. |
| *Segregate by Account | If checked, an individual reconciliation will be created for each account mapped to the account grouping. If unchecked, the combined balance and activity of all mapped accounts will be a single reconciliation. This is useful for situations where several accounts should be reconciled using the same criteria and have the same owner/approver combination, but you want to have individual support for each of the accounts. |
| Notes | Any additional information you want to record on the account grouping record can be stored here. |
If you'd like to reduce the volume of reconciliations generated while still segregating, you have a couple options. First, you can go to your Chart of Accounts, edit the account record, and make the account available only in selected subsidiaries. NetClose reconciliations will be generated only for the available account/subsidiary combinations.
Alternatively, you can use child groupings to consolidate a set of subsidiaries into one reconciliation or designate certain subsidiaries not to generate reconciliations at all. See our Account Grouping Subsidiary Configuration article for more information.
Assignment Information
| Account Owner | This is the user who should be performing the reconciliation. This user must be a Full NetClose user to be selected here. |
| Approver | This is the user who should approving the reconciliation once completed by the owner. This user must be a Full NetClose user to be selected here. |
| Relative Due Date | If you'd like to set a due date for your reconciliations, the relative due date will follow your working and non-working days set up in your NetClose Work Calendars. |
| Absolute Due Date | This works just like the relative due date field, but due dates will be set on whichever day of the month you set here without considering non-working days like the relative due dates do. |
Reconciliation assignees and approver(s) can be overridden for specific GL accounts rather than using the default for an entire account grouping. The walkthrough below demonstrates this process.
Overriding Assignees and Approvers
Click here to view this walkthrough in full screen.
Step By Step Process
- The Assignee and Approver(s) for account reconciliations can be overridden directly on the Account Record. Navigate to Setup > Accounting > Chart of Accounts.
- Click Edit on the account to modify.
- The NetClose Reconciliation Assignee Override field allows you to designate a specific assignee for an individual account, overriding the default assignee assigned to the broader reconciliation Account Grouping.
- The NetClose Reconciliation Approver Override field allows you to assign a specific approver(s) for an individual account, replacing the default approver(s) set at the Account Grouping level.
- After updates are made, click Save to apply the changes to the Account record.
- Once saved, the impact of the override fields can be observed on the Account Grouping record containing the account. The Assignee and Approver(s) specified in the override fields on the Account Record will replace the default values when reconciliations for the Account Grouping are generated.
Override fields will only be applied to reconciliations when generated if they are segregated by account or if the Account Grouping contains a single account. If reconciliations are not generated at the account level, the default Assignee and Approver(s) will be used instead.
Submission Thresholds
Reconciliation Submission Thresholds can be set on each Account Grouping. These thresholds prevent users from marking a reconciliation as complete or submitting it for review when the unexplained balance is above the threshold. The walkthrough below explains this in more detail.
| Reconciliation Submission Threshold | This field takes a number value. NetClose will check this value against the unexplained balance when a user tries to submit a reconciliation. In order to submit successfully, the unexplained balance must be below this threshold. |
| Reconciliation Submission Threshold Percent | This field tells NetClose to treat the value in the Reconciliation Submission Threshold as a percentage of the GL Ending Balance rather than an amount. |
Click here to view the walkthrough in full screen.
Reconciliation Rules
| Frequency | This controls when this account grouping will be pulled into the reconciliation generation list for a period. If "Monthly" is selected, this reconciliation can be generated for any monthly, quarterly, or annual period. Quarterly reconciliations can only be selected on quarter periods (Q2, Q3, etc.) Annual frequencies can only be run on the annual period selector (FY2022, FY2023, etc.). |
| Method | There are three methods for reconciling your accounts in NetClose - Activity, Ending Balance, and Open Item Management. Activity: Your reconciliation will require you to explain the change (activity) in your account balance for a period. Ending Balance: Your reconciliation will require you to explain the ending balance of the accounts in the account grouping. |
Auto-Reconciliation Rules - General
| Always Auto-Reconcile | This setting will mark the reconciliation associated with this account grouping as auto-reconciled every period it is generated in. Typically, this would only be used for GL accounts that you do not reconcile. |
| GL Balance Has Not Changed and No Activity | If the GL balance has not changed since the last period and there is no recorded activity in the account, the account will be marked as auto-reconciled. |
| Balances Zero and No Activity in Period | If the GL balance is zero and there's no recorded activity in the account, then the account will be marked as auto-reconciled. |
| Reconciliation Items Match | Each reconciliation can have reconciliation items added to it to explain the activity or balance of the account. These reconciliation items can also be carried forward into future periods for items that will remain in the account over time. If the sum of all the reconciliation items matches the unexplained balance for the period, then the account will be auto-reconciled. |
| Maximum Months Before Manual Review | This setting is used in conjunction with all other auto-reconciliation settings. If an account is auto-reconciling period over period, then this setting will override the auto-approval after the number of months you set here, requiring a user to manually mark the reconciliation as complete. |
Auto-Reconciliation Rules - Search
| Subledger Within NetSuite; Agrees to Search | This box should be checked if you have a saved search in NetSuite that you want to use to auto-reconcile the accounts in your grouping. How to set up such a saved search is covered in more depth in this article. |
Auto-Reconciliation Rules - Thresholds
These rules allow you to auto-reconcile accounts when a specific value is below a threshold. When one of these rules is enabled, the field it is referencing (i.e., Account Balance, Account Activity, Unexplained Balance) will be compared to the threshold you set, and the Reconciliation will be Auto-Reconciled if the value is below the threshold.
| Rule Group Balance Less than Threshold | This setting compares the ending balance of the mapped accounts in your account grouping to the "Account Balance Threshold". If the ending balance is below the "Account Balance Threshold", the accounts are marked as auto-reconciled. This happens regardless of whether the grouping uses the Ending Balance or Activity Reconciliation Rule Method. Also note that this is not an absolute value calculation; positive or negative amounts matter. |
| Rule Group Total Activity Less than Threshold | This setting compares the total activity of the mapped accounts in your account grouping to the "Total Activity Threshold". If the activity is below the "Total Activity Threshold", the accounts are marked as auto-reconciled. This happens regardless of whether the grouping uses the Ending Balance or Activity Reconciliation Rule Method. Also note that this is not an absolute value calculation; positive or negative amounts matter. |
| Rule Group Balance and Total Activity Less than Threshold | This is a combination of the above settings. If this is selected, both the "Account Balance Threshold" and "Total Activity Threshold" must be satisfied for a grouping to be considered auto-reconciled. |
| Unexplained Balance Threshold | This threshold compares your unexplained balance from the grouping to your "Unexplained Balance Threshold". If the unexplained balance is below the threshold, the accounts are marked as auto-reconciled. |
Subsidiary Subtab
On parent groupings, there is a single setting under this subtab: Consolidate To. By default, your account groupings, if not segregated by subsidiary, will consolidate to the most common subsidiary to all of the subsidiaries included in the account group. If you want to override this behavior, you can choose the subsidiary you are consolidating into using this setting. This is especially useful when you have many parent-child relationships with subsidiaries, and you use this setting in conjunction with child account groupings, which you can read more about here. If you'd like to know how NetClose reconciliations handle currency exchange rates on consolidation or otherwise, read this article.
System Subtab
| Inactive | This is the standard Inactive checkbox. If you mark account groupings as inactive, they will not be included on the Generate Reconciliations page. This is a preferred alternative to deletion if you have already generated reconciliations of a particular grouping. |
| Do Not Generate When No Balance and No Activity | This setting does exactly what it sounds like-- the system will check the balance and activity of the account in your reconciliation period. If there is no activity or balance in the account, it won't generate a reconciliation for that period. This is useful for accounts where you don't expect anything to happen, but you want to reconcile if something does happen. |
| Do Not Generate Ever | Another intuitive setting--reconciliations won't generate for the accounts/subsidiaries associated with an account grouping with this setting active. This may be useful if you have subsidiaries that you don't manage or don't reconcile at all. |
Advanced Setup
These items are for some advanced use cases and are not required for setting up NetClose reconciliations. If you've finished your basic setup and want to enhance your product usage or just want to learn more about the product capabilities, here are some linked articles you can use.
Using Child Account Groupings for Multi-Subsidiary Customization
If you want to have different reconciliation account owners or approvers or rules by subsidiary, or if you want to group together sets of subsidiaries that should have similar rules for a group of accounts, you can use child account groupings to accomplish this. Here's the article where you can read more about this use case.
Setting up Saved Searches to Auto-Reconcile Accounts
You can use NetSuite's native Saved Searches to grab data from a subledger within NetSuite and compare it to your GL. This is especially useful with other Netgain products that generate non-GL impacting subledgers that should match to your GL balance for a given period. If the balance of the saved search matches your GL balance for the selected accounts in your account grouping, the reconciliation will be considered auto-reconciled and the subledger values from your search will be saved as an attached reconciliation item to the reconciliation the search applies to.
If this sounds interesting to you and you want to learn more about how to set up subledger saved search auto-reconciliations, here's the link to the article for you!
Next Steps
You've finished your configuration! Now what?
You can head over to the Reconciliations Operation section of the Knowledge Center to learn more about how you can generate and perform your reconciliations. Feel free to come back here if you need to adjust settings as you use the reconciliations module.