The feature Period End Journal Entries in NetSuite allows you to post consolidation and closing journal entries. Because this feature is not required for every subsidiary, you can just enable it for specific subsidiaries in areas where recording period end transactions is a statutory requirement. Let’s take a quick overview of Period End Journal Entries in NetSuite.
Types of Period End Journal Entries in NetSuite
There are three main types of period end journals. Of course, all of these period end journals would only apply for subsidiaries that have enabled this feature.
- Income Statement Closing Journal: This journal entry will move your net income into retained earnings at the end of the fiscal year. This is determined by the fiscal calendar for any qualified parent subsidiaries, and not for the fiscal calendars of child subsidiaries.
- Consolidation Journal: This journal entry type consolidates exchange rate variances between child subsidiaries and their parent subsidiaries.
- Balance Sheet Closing and Opening Journals: This journal entry closes out a fiscal year for a subsidiary. It zeros out the balance sheet accounts, posting necessary balancing amounts.
Another period end journal that you will encounter is the Historical Balances Journal. This journal type is created only once for each subsidiary and only during the initial run-through of the period end journal process.
Setting Up Period End Journal Entries in NetSuite
To use Period End Journal Entries in NetSuite, you need to have NetSuite OneWorld and be using the Accounting Periods feature in NetSuite. You will also need to enable the Period End Journal Entries feature, which you can do under the Advanced Features section of the Accounting tab in Enable Features.
Enable Subsidiaries
Next, you’ll need to enable the subsidiaries you want Period End Journal Entries to apply to. To do that, navigate to the Subsidiary Settings Manager (Setup > Company > Setup Tasks > Subsidiary Settings Manager).
On the Subsidiary Settings Manager, you’ll see a list of all the subsidiaries in your account. And to the right of those subsidiaries, you’ll see several features that you can enable for each subsidiary. Under the column for Period End Journal Entries, you can enable that feature for the appropriate subsidiaries.
If you would like more details on setting up subsidiaries for Period End Journal Entries, check out the related NetSuite Help article, Defining Subsidiary Settings for the Period End Journal Entries Feature.
Custom Fields
If you want to customize Period End Journals, you can do that once the feature is enabled. When creating a custom transaction body field or custom transaction line field, you can select Period End Journal in the Applies To checkbox.
Auto-Numbering
If you want to set up a specific numbering system for your Period End Journals, you can do that on the Document Number subtab of the Auto-Generated Numbers page (Setup > Company > Auto-Generated Numbers).
Creating Period End Journal Entries in NetSuite
How would you create period end journals in NetSuite? After everything has been set up, you’ll find a Create Period End Journals task on the Period Close Checklist for any given period. Following the link on this task will take you to a status page that shows you a list of the subsidiaries that require period end journals. You can either create these journals one subsidiary at a time by selecting the Create Journals button at the top of the page, or you can begin the process for all your subsidiaries by selecting Create All Journals.
Conclusion
The Period End Journal Entries feature in NetSuite helps to automate the creation of all your period end journals. If you enjoyed this blog, be sure to subscribe below to our newsletter to keep learning more about key NetSuite features like this one.