NetLease - Multi-Book Lease Journals
Overview
NetLease's Multi-Book add-on supports dual reporting requirements — most commonly ASC 842 and IFRS 16. The add-on provides two posting methods, determined by how the Accounting Book and Secondary Book fields are populated on the lease record. Option 1 posts the normal custom transaction across all books and uses a book-specific reversal journal to record the correct secondary book treatment. Option 2 bypasses the custom transaction entirely, posting book-specific journals directly to both the primary and secondary books from the start.
Prerequisites
- The NetLease Multi-Book add-on must be purchased.
- Full Multi-Book Accounting must be enabled in NetSuite at Setup > Company > Enable Features.
- The Multi-Book system feature must be enabled in NetLease. Navigate to NetLease > NetLease Setup > System Setup, select the System Features subtab, and check the Multi-Book checkbox.
Multi-Book Functionality
Users utilizing NetSuite's native multi-book functionality may wish to record a different treatment in a secondary book than what was recorded in the primary book. The most common scenario involves dual reporting requirements — for example, ASC 842 in the primary book and IFRS 16 in the secondary book.
When a secondary book adjustment is needed, NetLease provides two options:
Option 1: Custom Transaction with Book-Specific Reversal
When only the Secondary Book field is populated on the lease record (no Accounting Book), NetLease posts a custom transaction for the primary schedule. Because NetSuite custom transactions post across all active books by default, the secondary book is also impacted by this entry. A separate book-specific journal entry then posts to the secondary book to reverse out the primary amounts and record the correct secondary book treatment.
Step-by-Step Process
- Open the applicable lease record and click Edit.
- In the Multi-Book Information section, populate the Secondary Classification and Secondary Book fields. Leave the Accounting Book field blank.
- Click Save.
- Run journal entries as normal—two entries are created:
- Custom Transaction — Posts the primary schedule amounts across all active NetSuite books, including the secondary book. This is standard NetSuite behavior for custom transactions.
- Book-Specific Journal Entry — Posts to the secondary book only and performs two functions: it reverses out the primary amounts that the custom transaction recorded in the secondary book, and records the correct secondary book treatment in their place. Reversed lines are prefixed with "REV - " in the memo field, with the secondary classification lines following the standard memo convention.
- Custom Transaction — Posts the primary schedule amounts across all active NetSuite books, including the secondary book. This is standard NetSuite behavior for custom transactions.
Option 2: Book-Specific Journals for Both Books
When both the Accounting Book and Secondary Book fields are populated on the lease record, NetLease does not post a custom transaction. Instead, book-specific journal entries post directly and independently to both the primary and secondary books from the start. No reversal entries are created.
Step-by-Step Process
- Open the applicable lease record and click Edit.
- In the Multi-Book Information section, populate the Secondary Classification, Secondary Book, and Accounting Book fields.
- Click Save.
- Run journal entries as normal. Book-specific entries for both the primary and secondary books will process simultaneously.
Considerations
Reviewing the Multi-Classification Schedule
Regardless of which posting method is used, both journal entries created during processing will appear on the Multi-Classification Schedule subtab of the lease record. For Option 1, these will be the custom transaction and the book-specific journal. For Option 2, these will be the two book-specific journals — one for each book.
Note: If the Multi-Classification Schedule is not visible on the lease record, it must be shown on the custom form.
- Navigate to Customization > Lists, Records, & Fields > Record Types and select NetLease Lease
- Select the Forms subtab and click Edit next to the applicable form
- Select the Sublists tab and select the Amortization Schedules sublist
- Click Show next to Multi-Classification Schedule
- Click Save
Auto-Approval for Multi-Book Journal Entries
When journal entry approval workflows are active in NetSuite, multi-book entries generated by NetLease may be subject to approval requirements. To enable auto-approval of these entries, the approval workflow must be configured to exclude any journal where the NetLease Lease column on the journal line is populated. Without this exclusion, each multi-book journal entry will require manual approval before posting.