Oracle NetSuite Accounting Software Review

Why Oracle NetSuite Is Best for Advanced Features

As part of its robust ERP offering, Oracle NetSuite offers an intuitive cloud-based financial management solution that allows businesses to track their financial data and automate many essential accounting functions. Like any top accounting software platform, NetSuite offers reporting, planning and billing features and easily integrates with other software, including Oracle’s suite of business solutions. NetSuite can also be used seamlessly with multiple currencies, so it’s a great option for growing companies with a global customer base.

If your business needs to expedite its accounts receivable and payable, accelerate deal closings, and keep up with more complex financial compliance obligations while taking advantage of a full suite of powerful business management features, Oracle NetSuite is ideal. Unlike QuickBooks Online Advanced, a top contender in the space, Oracle NetSuite doesn’t limit the number of users, and its reports are more advanced than QuickBooks’.

Usability

Oracle NetSuite is not cookie-cutter software; there are versions for different business types, including manufacturing and not-for-profit organizations, and it’s easy to add features as needed. The software integrates with many leading business software providers, so if you use other vendors to manage your operations, you can leverage NetSuite’s open APIs to introduce new integrations. While this level of specificity is impressive, it does mean there is a significant learning curve for new users. Some small businesses may even find the exhaustive slate of features overwhelming.

Because Oracle NetSuite is a cloud-based business solution, you can access all of your company’s accounting and operations data on any device, no matter where you are or when you need it. Users can create and access reports with the powerful front-end search functionality, but this software is not tailored to novices. You may want to hire a dedicated NetSuite implementation team to deal with the initial stages of the ERP platform, integrations and project management planning.

Once you’re comfortable with the program, you can take advantage of the ERP features: order, production and supply management. You’ll be able to manage your team and human resources processes with SuitePeople, which will streamline employee onboarding and information collection for new hires while also giving visibility into your workforce operations. 

For warehouse and fulfillment, NetSuite will help you with inbound and outbound logistics, inventory management and warehousing operations. However, ZarMoney’s accounting platform offers advanced inventory management features without the complexity and expenses of an ERP. Read our ZarMoney review if you’re looking for accounting and inventory software at lower prices. That said, NetSuite is the better choice of the two if you’re seeking customized user-defined strategies and advanced real-time updates and integrations.

Oracle NetSuite is a powerful software platform with exceptional features, but it might be overkill for some small businesses. If you don’t have a dedicated Oracle NetSuite expert on your team or you don’t have a clear need for all of its advanced features, you might consider simpler accounting software. One example can be found in our Zoho Books review.

This is an example of a custom income statement generated in Oracle NetSuite. You can tailor these documents to suit your needs and workflow. Image credit: Oracle NetSuite 

Oracle NetSuite Features

Finance and Accounting Tools

With Oracle NetSuite, your business can seamlessly combine its core finance and accounting functions with strong compliance management. This ERP’s financial management solution offers real-time access to your financial data to help you drill down into important details, resolve delays, and generate compliance statements and disclosures for your stakeholders. NetSuite provides the following basic accounting functions to streamline and simplify your financial processes:

• A general ledger
• Accounts receivable
• Accounts payable
• Tax management
• Fixed assets management
• Cash management
• Payment management

Billing Management Tools

Whether your business operates on a transaction, subscription, usage-based or hybrid model, Oracle NetSuite can help you manage your billing operations. It fully integrates with the platform’s advanced revenue management and compliance functions. Note that NetSuite is exclusively cloud-based, which is great if you want to work only from the cloud. Other ERP software, such as SAP Business One, can be used both in the cloud and on your IT system.

Accounting Standards Compliance

Businesses with financial reporting obligations can use NetSuite to easily comply with accounting standards, including ASC 606 and IFRS 15. Using the platform’s rule-based event-handling framework, you can easily automate numerous revenue management and reporting functions, such as forecasting, allocation, recognition, reclassification and auditing.

With Oracle NetSuite, your business will always be audit-ready. This ERP platform supports your company’s governance, risk and compliance (GRC) programs so you can handle increasingly complex regulatory, operational and compliance challenges as you scale. The platform can also establish a sustainable risk management and compliance process for your company so you can anticipate major risks before they happen. We were happy to see such extensive risk and compliance features, which were rare among most platforms we reviewed. 

Financial Planning and Projections

NetSuite’s planning, budgeting and forecasting functions allow your business to plot out its financial future based on real-time analytics. Use your business data to forecast revenue, plot out what-if scenarios and develop accurate budgets. Oracle’s powerful reporting and analytics tools also allow you to gain a more complete picture of your business at any time to make better-informed decisions about your finances. Although the other accounting platforms we reviewed come with similar tools, we found NetSuite’s features especially useful for larger businesses.

International Tools

If your business plans to expand its borders and go global, you need a financial management solution that helps you manage your international transactions and compliance obligations. Oracle NetSuite’s powerful financial engine gives you maximum transparency and visibility into your business across countries in real time so you can manage your operations at the local and global levels. 

To make it easier to run an international business, NetSuite offers a variety of language interfaces to overcome language barriers, as well as a multicurrency management system that supports over 190 currencies and automatically accounts for the current exchange rate for real-time conversion. This level of international currency accommodation impressed us. While NetSuite isn’t the only platform we reviewed that prioritizes international currency, it does so at greater depth than others. That can be crucial for larger businesses expanding across borders.

Oracle NetSuite Costs

Oracle NetSuite does not publish a fixed price list on its website. The pricing varies depending on factors such as which product configuration your company selects, the add-on modules required, the total user count, the contract duration and specific industry requirements. After licensing and implementation costs, which can run well into the thousands depending on the scope of your organization’s needs, monthly subscription costs for Oracle NetSuite begin at $99 per user per month. As such, Oracle NetSuite is not suitable for small businesses on a budget, but larger businesses with the resources to implement the platform may find its wide-ranging and advanced features well worth the cost.

If your business is looking for more basic accounting features at a lower price, consider our review of Intuit QuickBooks, which has plans that currently range from $7.50 to $100 per month. However, if your business is growing internationally and you anticipate needing an ERP platform to manage everything, NetSuite can be an excellent accounting solution that sets you up for financial success as your company grows. Thanks to NetSuite’s integrated ecosystem, you can save time and money that would otherwise be spent managing multiple software solutions from different vendors.

Oracle NetSuite offers a free trial, which begins with a demo. You would be set up with a customized plan for your business. Once set up, you have two weeks to test out the software.

Oracle NetSuite Setup

Oracle NetSuite publishes a detailed Creating Accounts document that takes you step by step through the setup process. According to Oracle, the following steps can help you get started with the platform:

1. Go to Lists > Accounting > Accounts > New.
2. Enter general account information.
3. If the Multiple Currencies feature is enabled and the Account Type is Bank, select a currency to associate with the account.
4. For NetSuite OneWorld, select rate types for exchange rates used to value financials.
5. If you use the Multiple Currencies feature and want to be able to select this account for revaluation, check the Revalue Open Balance for Foreign Currency Transactions box.
6. Check the Eliminate Intercompany Transactions box if this is an intercompany account used only to record transactions between subsidiaries. Amounts posted to intercompany accounts are eliminated when you run the intercompany elimination process at the end of an accounting period.
7. Enter a description of the account.
8. The Date field indicates the date for the account’s opening balance.
9. If you are not using NetSuite OneWorld, enter an opening balance for this account.
10. Check the Summary box to make this a reporting account record.
11. To make an account inactive, check the Inactive box.
12. Enter classification information.
13. If you have the GL Matching SuiteApp installed, check the Include in GL Matching box if you want to include this account for GL Matching or account reconciliation. Including an account in GL Matching enables you to select this account type from the Account drop-down filter in the GL Matching Dashboard.
14. Click Save.

This is an example of the dashboard you can customize in Oracle NetSuite. The platform provides insight into virtually every aspect of your enterprise resource planning and can scale indefinitely with your business. Image credit: Oracle NetSuite

The length of time it will take to set up the account varies tremendously. It depends on the complexity of your business and add-ons. Based on our research, it can take a couple of hours to input all of the information. By contrast, with FreshBooks, which is designed for startups and specializes in invoicing, it can easily take under an hour to create an account. Read our FreshBooks review to learn more about this platform’s easy setup and top-notch invoicing features.

Oracle NetSuite Customer Service

Oracle NetSuite delivers top-notch customer service across its entire ERP platform, including its financial management solution. The company’s educational resources give users the opportunity to learn about NetSuite’s full range of products and stay updated on any new features or capabilities.

NetSuite offers 24/7, real-time support by phone at 877-638-7848, email and a built-in chatbot on the company’s website. The automated chat functionality can answer simple frequently asked questions or connect you with a customer service representative. The company also offers live and online NetSuite training, which is essential for new users to become proficient with the system.

Oracle NetSuite Drawbacks

There are some considerations to weigh before enrolling in Oracle NetSuite. First, the software can be complicated to set up and manage, so it’s easy to get overwhelmed if you are a novice. For example, the interface enables you to modify reports, but if the data source is not available, you’ll need to take extra steps to customize your reports. Training is essential for new users and teams to make the most out of Oracle NetSuite.

In addition, the annual subscription price is on the high side, and the cost of implementation can vary depending on your needs. Some businesses may find it necessary to maintain in-house staff who specialize in Oracle NetSuite to properly configure and manage the system, which represents an indirect expense to keep the system running. For small businesses trying to keep costs low with simple accounting software, Oracle NetSuite may not be the best fit.

Methodology

When we searched for the best accounting software for advanced features, we looked for a comprehensive platform that not only offered accounting software tools but also integrated with every facet of a business’s operations. After much research and analysis, we recommend Oracle NetSuite as the best accounting software for advanced features, since its ERP system covers virtually everything a business needs. After comparing and contrasting the dashboard, features, pricing and customer service, we test-drove the product with an initial setup. Overall, we found Oracle NetSuite to be a very powerful, robust platform that has all the bells and whistles to manage many moving parts.

Overall Value

We recommend Oracle NetSuite for …

• Businesses that are outgrowing basic accounting software.
• Manufacturing businesses that need to manage warehouse operations, inventory and supply chain processes while lowering operating costs and increasing revenue.
• International businesses that need a platform that can help manage operations spanning multiple nations.

We don’t recommend Oracle NetSuite for …

• New users who are unprepared for a steep learning curve.
• Businesses that need only invoicing and basic accounting reports.
• Businesses on a budget.