Introduction
For many finance and accounting teams, the NetSuite period-end close can feel like a high-stakes race against the clock. While NetSuite’s Period Close Checklist is designed to guide you through the process, the reality is that a single un-posted transaction or a misconfigured item can bring the entire process to a grinding halt.
This article goes beyond the standard checklist to address the common, often frustrating, issues that prevent a clean close. We’ll show you how to proactively identify and resolve these pitfalls, ensuring your team can close the books accurately and on time, every single month.
Section 1: Understanding the NetSuite Period Close Checklist
First, let’s briefly touch on the tool that is meant to be your north star: the Period Close Checklist. You can find it under Setup > Accounting > Manage G/L > Manage Accounting Periods.
This checklist provides a sequence of tasks that must be completed in a specific order. The most important tasks are:
- Review all Period-End Journal Entries: Ensures all adjusting entries are made.
- Lock A/R and A/P: Prevents new transactions from being entered into the period.
- Run Inventory Costing: The most frequent cause of delays.
- Close Period: The final step, which locks down the books.
While the checklist is essential, its “lock and run” approach doesn’t always account for the real-world complexities that arise.
Section 2: The Three Most Common Period-End Pitfalls and How to Fix Them
These are the “bugs” that aren’t bugs at all—they’re system warnings that something isn’t right.
Pitfall #1: The “Costing Engine is In Progress” Lock
This is the number one reason many period closes stall. You’ll try to run the “Calculate Inventory Cost” task and get an error message.
- The Root Cause: NetSuite’s costing engine is a background process. If a large number of inventory-affecting transactions (like item receipts, sales order fulfillments, or adjustments) were entered at the end of the month, the system may still be busy calculating the final item costs. You can’t close the period until these calculations are complete to ensure COGS and inventory values are accurate.
- The Proactive Solution:
- Monitor Item Costing Status: Run a saved search to find items that are still “In Progress.” Go to Lists > Search > Saved Searches > New > Item and add a filter where Item Costing Status is “In Progress”.
- Wait (or Force Recalculation): The simplest solution is to wait. For most businesses, the costing engine will finish within a few hours. If you’re up against a hard deadline, you may need to manually trigger the Recalculate Inventory Cost process from Transactions > Inventory > Revalue Inventory Cost for the specific period.
Pitfall #2: Un-Posted Inventory Transactions
This issue is closely related to costing. If a transaction (like an Inventory Adjustment or Item Receipt) is saved but its GL impact has not yet been posted, the system will prevent the close.
- The Root Cause: This often happens when a user saves a transaction but the system is waiting on a costing calculation or another background process before it can post the final journal entry.
- The Proactive Solution:
- Create a Saved Search for Un-Posted Transactions: Create a transaction search with the following criteria:
- Posting is False
- Transaction Date is within the period you are trying to close.
- You may also want to add Type filters for relevant inventory transactions like Inventory Adjustment, Item Receipt, etc.
- Run a Recalculation: Once you’ve identified the un-posted transactions, run the inventory costing recalculation to force them to post and clear the issue.
Pitfall #3: The “Pending Revaluation” Hold
This is specific to businesses using standard costing. If you’ve performed an inventory adjustment or a receipt and the system is waiting for a Revaluation record to be created, it will halt the period close.
- The Root Cause: When you use standard costing, any difference between the actual cost of an item and its standard cost needs to be revalued and posted to a variance account. The system holds the transaction until this happens.
- The Proactive Solution:
- Run a Saved Search for “Pending Revaluation”: Create an Item Saved Search and look for the field Status of Standard Cost. Filter for any item with a Pending Revaluation status.
- Create the Revaluation: In many cases, you’ll need to manually run the Revalue Standard Cost process to create the necessary records and clear the status.
Section 3: Proactive Best Practices for a Seamless Close
The best way to avoid these pitfalls is to get ahead of them.
- Reconcile Early and Often: Don’t wait until the last day to reconcile your Balance Sheet accounts. Reconcile Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable to the GL throughout the month.
- Educate Your Team: Ensure that your team members understand the impact of their transactions. A properly saved transaction is the first step to a clean close.
- Leverage Saved Searches: The three saved searches outlined above should be run daily in the final week of the period. This allows you to catch and fix issues as they arise, preventing a last-minute panic.
Conclusion
The NetSuite Period Close Checklist is a powerful tool, but a true mastery of the close process comes from understanding the underlying logic of NetSuite’s costing and transaction posting. By proactively monitoring for these common issues and leveraging NetSuite’s reporting tools, you can transform the period close from a source of stress into a routine, predictable process.