NetSuite is the go-to ERP for modern finance teams. It’s powerful, widely adopted, highly customizable, and robust enough to manage everything from billing to financial reporting.
But what happens when transaction volumes increase, payment flows get more complex, and expectations around speed and precision grow? That’s when many teams start to feel the strain.
NetSuite forms the foundation of many finance stacks, but it often needs additional support to keep up with the demands of fast-paced transactions.
For finance leaders not involved in the day-to-day, it’s easy to assume NetSuite “just handles” reconciliation and cash visibility. But operators in the weeds know that much of the heavy lifting still happens outside of the NetSuite platform, relying on spreadsheets, custom scripts, and manual work.
The result is a growing disconnect between what’s expected from NetSuite and what’s actually possible.
If your team is still spending hours every month on tasks like manual reconciliations, journal entry creation, Excel cleanups, or troubleshooting month-end mismatches, it may be time to take a closer look at your workflows.
NetSuite is a toolkit, not a plug-and-play solution
NetSuite is powerful—but it’s not a plug-and-play reconciliation solution. It functions more like a toolkit: flexible and extensible, but often reliant on IT support, custom logic, or third-party tools to operate effectively.
At scale, that model starts to break down. What looks like automation on the surface can quickly turn into a patchwork of scripts, batch jobs, and manual workarounds just to keep things running.
As transaction volume and complexity continue to increase, NetSuite’s limitations become harder to work around. Batch updates start lagging behind daily operations. Metadata gets lost or misaligned between systems. PSP data comes in different formats that don’t match the structure of your ERP. And reconciling those transactions across accounts, currencies, and entities becomes a manual lift that finance teams simply can’t sustain.
These aren’t edge cases—they’re everyday headaches for fast-growing companies. And when the volume hits a certain threshold, even small gaps in automation lead to reporting delays, audit risk, and avoidable errors.
The outcome? Workflows break down. Reporting gets delayed. And finance teams fall back on manual workarounds that don’t scale.
Below are the most common NetSuite workflow breakdowns we see in high-volume teams—and how to fix them.
8 Netsuite workflows that break down at scale (and how to fix them without replacing your ERP)
NetSuite isn’t broken. It just wasn’t built for high-volume finance operations out of the box. Fixing that doesn’t mean replacing your ERP. It means addressing the specific workflows that break down at scale and supplementing NetSuite with tools designed to automate where it matters most.
1. Reconciliation breaks when volume scales
NetSuite supports account-level reconciliation, but it breaks down at transaction-level matching — especially across banks, PSPs (e.g. Stripe, PayPal), internal systems, and NetSuite itself. The native functionality is often limited to high-level General Ledger balance comparison or manual bank statement matching.
NetSuite’s Bank Feeds SuiteApp can help bring data in, but it’s notoriously unreliable. Feeds break without warning, formats vary, and transaction metadata isn’t always preserved. That leaves teams pulling reports manually, cleaning data in Excel, and running reconciliation processes outside the ERP.
This gets even more complex when trying to match multiple sources: for example, tying a Stripe payout (which may cover hundreds of transactions and include embedded fees) to the corresponding deposit in your bank, and linking it all back to the original invoices or orders in NetSuite.
Why it’s a problem
This is where manual reconciliation becomes a real operational bottleneck. Teams spend hours building formulas, lookup tables, and pivot tables just to tie out records.
Every new PSP, bank account, or entity adds more complexity. Errors get introduced. The close gets delayed. And audit trails disappear into local Excel files and Slack threads.
Even small mismatches — a timing gap, a currency conversion, a naming difference — can break the reconciliation and lead to unposted entries, missed revenue, or support tickets from confused stakeholders.
For controllers and CFOs, the result is a close process that feels reactive, fragile, and overly dependent on spreadsheet logic that only one or two people on the team fully understand.
How Ledge fixes it
Ledge automates transaction-level matching across all sources — NetSuite, banks, Payment Providers, and internal systems — with flexible, finance-owned rules. It ingests and standardizes data in real time, matches across systems using configurable logic (not just reference IDs), and continuously flags exceptions for review.
No more downloading reports. No more recon in Excel. Just clean, real-time reconciliation you can trust — with audit-ready traceability and live visibility across your entire transaction flow.
2. Journal entries are still posted manually
NetSuite doesn’t natively post journal entries as a continuation of the reconciliation process. Even if your team manually ties out transactions in Excel, you still need to re-enter or script journal entries to reflect those matches inside the ERP. Finance teams either rely on hard-coded workflows (owned by IT or consultants) or fall back on manual data entry.
Posting journal entries based on reconciled data also isn’t standardized across PSPs, banks, or internal systems. Each source introduces slight differences in naming conventions, timing, and data formatting, which creates friction when trying to map matched items into NetSuite’s journal structure. As a result, teams often maintain offline trackers and manually construct entries based on the final recon file.
Why it’s a problem
Manual journal entries create delays, introduce errors, and pull finance teams into low-leverage work. The logic behind each entry often lives in someone’s head or an undocumented script. Mistakes in account coding or missed entries lead to balance discrepancies, downstream cleanups, and added pressure at close. Even well-defined workflows break when a team member leaves or when transaction volume spikes. This introduces risk and erodes confidence in reported numbers. If posting is manual, it’s never fully scalable.
How Ledge fixes it
Ledge generates and posts journal entries automatically based on matched transactions — using flexible rules that finance can configure and test without IT. Every entry is audit-tracked, tied directly to its source records, and synced to NetSuite. This removes the lag between reconciliation and close, reduces human error, and gives finance teams confidence that what’s been reconciled has been properly recorded.
3. Cash application breaks when things don’t match exactly
NetSuite’s auto-application logic only works when payments and invoices match exactly in value, currency, timing, and metadata. But in reality, most payment behavior doesn’t conform to that ideal.
Customers pay in bundles, underpay, overpay, use different names, or pay across subsidiaries. Payment Processors introduce even more variation — embedding fees, making partial settlements, or using alternate identifiers.
Without precise alignment, NetSuite fails to apply the payment, and finance teams are forced to do the work manually: scanning records, referencing CSVs, and applying cash line by line.
Why it’s a problem
Manual cash application is time-consuming and brittle. It slows down revenue recognition, inflates aged receivables, and pulls AR teams into detective work. When cash isn’t applied promptly or accurately, customers get incorrect statements, revenue is misclassified, and short payments slip through unnoticed. The result is more cleanup at month-end and a less reliable picture of what’s been collected.
How Ledge fixes it
Ledge applies payments to open invoices using intelligent, rules-based logic. It handles partial payments, multi-invoice payments, entity mismatches, and currency differences, automatically linking transactions based on structure, timing, and naming logic. This allows cash to be applied faster and more accurately, without relying on manual matching or support from AR.
4. Payment Processor data is messy and doesn’t map to your ERP
Payment service providers like Stripe, PayPal, and Adyen each use different data formats. They embed fees, convert currencies midstream, and settle funds on different schedules. NetSuite has no native way to ingest, interpret, and reconcile this data automatically. So teams export Payment Processor reports to Excel, clean and reformat them manually, and attempt to reconcile them to bank deposits and ERP records line by line.
The issue isn’t just formatting. It's that processor data often doesn’t contain the identifiers that NetSuite or your internal systems expect. Timing mismatches, embedded fees, and chargebacks complicate the mapping even further.
Why it’s a problem
The entire reconciliation process becomes a manual lift.
Refunds, fee offsets, and partial settlements require one-off logic. Finance teams spend hours combining PSP exports, mapping rows, and trying to match payments to deposits and system records. Every new PSP integration introduces more complexity. Every volume spike adds risk.
How Ledge fixes it
Ledge connects directly to Payment Processors, ingests and standardizes the data, and matches it against ERP and bank records automatically. It understands PSP-specific logic — including fees, settlement delays, and metadata quirks — so finance teams don’t have to decode it manually.
Refunds, chargebacks, and fee validation are handled out of the box, eliminating spreadsheets and reducing the risk of mismatch.
5. Bank feeds break or delay your data
NetSuite’s Bank Feeds SuiteApp is commonly used to import bank transactions, but it’s notoriously fragile. Feeds often fail silently. Some banks aren’t supported. Others batch data in a way that introduces reporting delays. There’s no alert when a feed stops syncing — teams only find out when reconciliations don’t tie.
Because the connection isn’t dependable, many finance teams revert to manual CSV uploads or third-party aggregators to fill in gaps. This fragments the data pipeline and introduces version control issues.
Why it’s a problem
When transaction data is delayed or missing, reconciliation stalls. The close is delayed. Cash positions are out of sync. It becomes impossible to build a reliable real-time view of liquidity. And the burden of maintaining integrations falls on finance rather than engineering.
How Ledge fixes it
Ledge connects directly to your banks using reliable, always-on integrations. Transactions sync in real time, across all accounts and entities, and are continuously reconciled against ERP and Payment Processor records. No batch lags. No manual uploads. Just a clean, consistent data pipeline that keeps reconciliation and cash reporting accurate and on track.
6. Your real-time cash view isn’t real-time
NetSuite’s reports are batch-based and only reflect transactions once they’ve been imported, matched, and reconciled. But for many teams, that happens days or even weeks after the fact. There’s no live visibility into what's happening in your bank or PSP right now, and there’s no way to track funds in transit that haven’t yet cleared or been reconciled.
Without a real-time dashboard, finance is left stitching together cash views manually by checking bank portals, downloading NetSuite reports, and updating offline trackers just to figure out where the money is.
Why it’s a problem
When cash data is delayed or disconnected, finance loses visibility into what’s available, what’s pending, and what’s missing. That includes payouts that haven’t hit the bank yet, intercompany transfers mid-flight, and transactions sitting unreconciled because metadata is missing.
So finance teams rebuild the view manually, every day by refreshing spreadsheets, reconciling expected vs actual deposits, and chasing down exceptions. The process burns hours and doesn’t scale.
How Ledge fixes it
Ledge gives you a real-time view of cash across all banks, PSPs, and NetSuite, including live balances, unreconciled transactions, and funds in transit. You can track what’s settled, what’s pending, and where things are stuck filtered by account, entity, processor, or currency.
No more offline trackers. Just a live, reliable view of your true cash position.
7. Your audit trail lives in spreadsheets, email, and Slack
Even when core workflows like reconciliation, cash application, and journal entry posting are completed, the context behind each decision (i.e. what logic was used, who approved it, why something was adjusted) is rarely captured in a structured way. Most of that history lives in spreadsheets, Slack threads, or someone’s memory.
Why it’s a problem
When auditors or leadership request documentation, finance teams scramble to recreate decisions. Slack threads, spreadsheet comments, and email approvals become your system of record, which increases audit risk and erodes trust in the numbers. And without visibility into how exceptions were resolved, finance leaders can’t track whether the same issues are recurring or properly addressed.
How Ledge fixes it
Ledge creates a structured, time-stamped audit trail for every action from initial ingestion to match logic, exception routing, and journal entry creation. Every record includes notes, assignments, and resolution steps. It’s all time-stamped, versioned, and searchable, so audit prep is built in, not bolted on.
8. Updating reconciliation or posting logic requires IT
In NetSuite, automating reconciliation or journal entry logic typically involves scripting or SuiteScript customizations, which puts the workflow outside the control of finance. Even minor adjustments, like modifying matching rules or changing how entries are posted, often require tickets to IT or paid consultants. As transaction complexity grows, so does the backlog of changes finance can’t own.
Why it’s a problem
This lack of agility slows down finance teams. Business logic gets hardcoded and forgotten. Close delays persist because issues can’t be addressed immediately. And when something breaks, finance is stuck waiting for someone else to fix it, often without full visibility into how it works in the first place.
How Ledge fixes it
Ledge puts control back in the hands of finance. Teams can define and manage reconciliation and posting logic directly without writing code or involving IT. Rules are easy to test, modify, and version, so finance can respond faster when business needs change, all while maintaining full control and audit traceability.
When NetSuite users start looking for Ledge
The turning point usually comes when teams realize that NetSuite isn’t broken—but the manual workarounds they’ve built around it are no longer sustainable. Whether volume has scaled, complexity has increased, or the close has become too painful, finance leaders start looking for a better way.
Here are some of the most common signs it’s time to make a change:
- “We’re still reconciling transactions in Excel.”
- “We’re manually posting journal entries one by one.”
- “Our cash application only works when everything matches perfectly.”
- “We can’t see our real-time cash position across accounts.”
- “We rely on IT or consultants to fix broken workflows.”
- “Audit prep still means re-running reports and recreating logic.”
- “We’re downloading multiple CSVs just to get basic data into NetSuite.”
If this sounds like your team, it’s time to get back in control.
