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SAS99 Audit Considerations in NetSuite

Introduction

One of the most complex aspects auditors go through every year is the review of all General Ledger impacting transactions for fraud and error. This is part of the Statement of Auditing Standard 99 (SAS99) and is a required step for all financial audits – both for public and private companies.

One of the audit procedure is to understand the source of the journal impacting transactions and whether it is considered as system generated or not. Typically manual journals are considered high risk and are specifically included in this review. System generated journals that have adequate internal controls are not generally included in this review.

Given the complexity involved in NetSuite, we thought we will build a guide that auditors and auditees can use to understand the nature of these transactions.

GL Impacting Transactions

We have given the list of most common transactions in NetSuite below. Please click on Next to review the complete list. Following are the explanation on each column

Cycle – Order to Cash, Procure to pay, Inventory, etc.
Impacts GL – Whether this transaction type impacts GL or not. For example, a Purchase Order is not a GL impacting transaction.
How to identify In UI – If the specific transaction is being reviewed on the UI(User Interface – Browser), how to identify this transaction. For example, for a fixed asset journal, a custom sub-list contains the parent fixed assets details. In many other cases, the header of the journal itself provides this information. For example, in case of revenue recognition journal, the header will state ‘Created from Revenue Recognition Schedule’.
Not Locked (Lock) – This is a critical aspect that an auditor needs to be aware. For example, for a fixed asset journal entry, although the journal is created through the fixed assets module, the amounts could be modified. Hence, unless a workflow based lock is enforced, there is a risk of subsequent change. Anything with Y requires additional workflow to lock them.

Source – The specific process that creates this entry.
Type – While creating a saved search to extract the data, what is the Type of the transaction that should be included to get this data? For example, a revenue reclassification entry will be of type journal and does not have its own type.
How to identify In Search – In a saved search including this field will help in identifying the source of a transaction.
Created by –As seen, sometimes the user name will be System while sometimes it will be the logged in user.

Cycle	Source	Impacts GL	Type	How to identify In UI	How to identify in Search	Not Locked	Created by
GL	Currency Revaluation	Yes	Currency Revaluation	Rounding Gain/Loss and Unrealized Gain/Loss	Transaction type: Currency Revaluation	NA	System
GL	Journal	Yes	Journal	Header: Journal	Transaction type: Journal	Yes	Logged in user
GL	Amortization schedule	No	NA	NA	NA	NA	Logged in user
GL	Amortization journal	Yes	Journal	Created from Amortization Schedule	Created from: Type = Amortization Schedule	No	System
Manufacturing	Assembly Build	Yes	Assembly Build	Header: Assembly Buld	Transaction type: Assembly Build; Created from: WO number.	NA	Logged in user
Manufacturing	Inventory Transfer	Yes	Inventory Transfer	Header: Inventory Transfer	Transaction type: Inventory Transfer	NA	Logged in user
Manufacturing	Inventory Adjustment	Yes	Inventory Adjustment	Header: Inventory Adjustment	Transaction type: Inventory Adjustment	NA	Logged in user
Manufacturing	Inventory Cost Revaluation	Yes	Inventory Cost Revaluation	Header: Inventory Cost Revaluation	Transaction type: Inventory Cost Revaluation	NA	Logged in user
Manufacturing	Assembly Unbuild	Yes	Assembly Unbuild	Header: Assembly Unbuild	Transaction type: Assembly Unbuld	NA	Logged in user
Manufacturing	Bin Transfer	No	NA	NA	NA	NA	Logged in user
Manufacturing	Transfer Order	Yes	Item Shipment and Item Receipt	Item Shipment and Item Receipt, with Created From Transfer Order transaction	Transaction type: Item Shipment and item Receipt created from Transfer Order transaction	NA	Logged in user
Manufacturing	Work Order	No	NA	NA	NA	NA	Logged in user
Manufacturing	Work Order Issue	Yes	Work Order Issue	Header: Work Order Issue	Transction type: Work Order Issue	NA	Logged in user
Manufacturing	Work Order Completion	Yes	Work Order Completion	Header: Work Order Completion	Transaction type: Work Order Completion; Applying to Transaction = Work Order number	NA	Logged in user
Order to Cash	Customer Deposits	Yes	Customer Deposits	Header: Customer Deposit	Transaction type: Deposit GL line impact: Customer Deposits	NA	Logged in user
Order to Cash	Sales Order	No	NA	NA	NA	NA	Logged in user
Order to Cash	Invoice	Yes	Invoice	Header: Invoice	Transaction type: Invoice	NA	Logged in user
Order to Cash	Item Fulfillment	Yes	Item Fulfillment	Header: Item Fulfillment Status: Shipped	Transaction type: Item Fulfillment; Applied to Transaction : Sales Order Number	NA	Logged in user
Order to Cash	Payment	Yes	Payment	Header: Payment Line: Applied to Invoice/s	Tranaction type: Payment Applied to Transaction: Invoice	NA	Logged in user
Order to Cash	Credit Memo	Yes	Credit Memo	Header: Credit Memo	Transaction type: Credit Memo	NA	Logged in user
Order to Cash	Customer Refund	Yes	Customer Refund	Header: Customer Refund	Transaction type: Customer Refund Applying Transaction: Credit Memo	NA	Logged in user
Order to Cash	Return Authorization	No	NA	NA	NA	NA	Logged in user
Order to Cash	Return Receipts	Yes	Item Receipt	Header: Item Receipt; Created from: Return Authorization	Transaction type: Item Receipt Created from: Return Authorization Transaction #	NA	Logged in user
Order to Cash	Cash Sale	Yes	Cash Sale	Header Cash Sale	Transaction type: Cash Sale	NA	Logged in user
Order to Cash	Cash Refund	Yes	Cash Refund	Header: Cash Refund	Transaction type: Cash Refund Created From: Cash Sale Transaction	NA	Logged in user
Order to Cash	Revenue commitment/ Revenue Arrangement	No	NA	NA	NA	NA	System
Order to Cash	Revenue schedule	No	NA	NA	NA	NA	System
Order to Cash	Revenue Journal	Yes	Journal	Header: Journal Status: Created from Revenue Recognition Schedule	Transaction Type: Journal Memo: Rev Rec Source and Rev Rec Destination Applied to Transaction: Reveneue Arrangement #	No* lines and amount cannot be changed.	Logged In User; Context: Bulk Processing
Order to Cash	Revenue reclassification	Yes	Journal	Header: Journal Details: "Reclassification Journal Details"	Transaction Type: Journal Applued to Transaction/Created From: Revenue Arrangement #	Yes	Logged In User; Context: Bulk Processing
Order to Cash	Finance Charge	Yes	Invoice	Header: Finance Charge	Transaction Type: Invoice Memo: Finance Charge	NA	Logged in user
Order to Cash	Commission	Yes	Commission	Header: Commission	Transaction Type: Commission	NA	System
Order to Cash	Statement Charge	Yes	Statement Charge	Header: Statement Charge	Transaction Type: Statement Charge	NA	Logged in user
Procure to pay	Purchase Order	No	NA	NA	NA	NA	Logged in user
Procure to pay	Bill	Yes	Bill	Header: Bill	Transaction Type: Bill	NA	Logged in user
Procure to pay	Bill Payment	Yes	Bill Payment	Header: Bill Payment Apply Subtab: Applied to Bill #	Transcation Type: Bill Payment Applied to Transaction: Bill #	NA	Logged in user
Procure to pay	Expense Report	Yes	Expense Report	Header: Expense Report	Transaction Type: Expense Report	NA	Logged in user
Procure to pay	Item Receipt	Yes	Item Receipt	Header: Item Receipt Created from: Purchase Order Transaction #	Transaction Type: Item Receipt Applying to transaction/Created From: Purchase Order #	NA	Logged in user
Procure to pay	Bill Credit	Yes	Bill Credit	Header: Bill Credit Created From: Bill #	Transaction Type: Bill Credit Applying to transaction/Created From: Bill #	NA	Logged in user
Procure to pay	Vendor Bill variance	Yes	Journal	Header: Journal Status: APPROVED FOR POSTING VENDOR BILL VARIANCE	Transaction Type: Journal Memo: Total Bill Variance/Bill Quantity Variance Applied to Transaction: Bill	No* lines and amount cannot be changed.	Logged in user
Procure to pay	Landed Cost	Yes	Can be: in PO, Item Receipt, Vendor Bills	Landed Cost subtab	Memo	NA	Logged in user
Fixed Assets	Creation	No	NA	NA	NA	NA	Logged in User/System
Fixed Assets	Transfer	Yes	Journal	Subtab: Custom - Fam Depreciation History Tranasction Type: Transfer	Type: Journal FAM Depreciation History Memo: with FAM number	Yes	System
Fixed Assets	Depreciation	Yes	Journal	Subtab: Custom - BG Summary Records Custom - Fam Depreciation History Tranasction Type: Transfer	Type: Journal FAM Depreciation History Memo: with FAM number	Yes	System
Fixed Assets	Adjustment	Yes	Journal	Subtab: Custom - Fam Depreciation History Tranasction Type: Revaluation/Writedown	Type: Journal FAM Depreciation History Memo: with FAM number	Yes	System
Fixed Assets	Retirement	Yes	Journal	Subtab: Custom - Fam Depreciation History Tranasction Type: Disposal	Type: Journal FAM Depreciation History Memo: with FAM number	Yes	System
Banking	Write Checks	Yes	Checks	Header: Check	Transaction Type: Check	NA	Logged in user
Banking	Transfer Funds	Yes	Transfer	Header: Transfer	Transaction Type: Transfer	NA	Logged in user
Banking	Write Deposits	Yes	Deposits	Header: Deposit	Transaction Type: Deposit	NA	Logged in user
Banking	Use Credit Cards	Yes	Credit Card	Header: Credit Card	Transaction Type: Credit Card	NA	Logged in user
Banking	Pay Sales Tax	Yes	Sales Tax Payment	Header: Sales Tax Payment	Transaction Type: Sales Tax Payment	NA	Logged in user

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SAS99 Audit Considerations in NetSuite

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