Technology

The Impact: How NetSuite Customers Use FloQast to Streamline the Month-End Close and Ensure Audit Readiness

With the dreaded annual audit right around the corner, end-of-year is typically a period of time fraught with stress. As accountants balance day-to-day responsibilities with audit-related prep work, it might seem like an odd time to revisit existing processes, but for NetSuite customers, this time of year presents an opportunity that could pay off in audits to come.

Until recently, the obvious benefits of revamping the month-end close process seemed like a “nice to have.” Sure, it could take a few hours off a tedious, but performing a hard close each month, aside from sounding impressive to stakeholders, wasn’t something most accounting teams strived for. Over time, with the growing availability of simple-to-implement close management solutions like FloQast, accounting teams can effectively evolve the way they approach the month-end close to provide more value to the organization, eliminate much of the time-consuming work needed, and assure audit-readiness with clear documentation and communication auditors can easily reference.

Close Management Software for NetSuite Customers: Plug & Play

Software implementations, as simple as they might sound, tend to involve a lot of work, constant communications, and buy-in from the new users accustomed to performing their responsibilities the way they have for years. Often times, this can lead NetSuite users to fall back on tried-and-true methods to managing processes like the month-end close. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

In the case of NextRoll (formerly AdRoll Group), a NetSuite customer headquartered in San Francisco with team members located around the world, the trusty spreadsheet management method worked fine, but the method’s limitations were obvious. Ultimately, it was clear to the accounting team’s leadership that it was time to adopt a solution that would give them more confidence in the close, but were wary of the impact a complicated, lengthy implementation could have on the organization.

“We were looking for a tool to help us manage our close cycle. Before that, we were using a Google Sheet to tasks and completions, but we found it was difficult to maintain over time,” remembered Jia Hua Juszczak, a Lead Accountant at NextRoll (formerly AdRoll Group). “The implementation process with FloQast was just a matter of setting up the integration. It worked seamlessly, and we were able to upload our existing tasks from the spreadsheet. It was totally painless.” 

An Integration Users Can Rely On

Software integrations can be tricky. So tricky, in fact, that many SaaS organizations (and their financial backers) have invested billions into simplifying the process of onboarding customers — and not always successfully. For NetSuite customers, having the assurance that their ERP is synced with cloud storage and reporting the numbers in real-time via the close management software can pay off big: From a simplified close process to a streamlined audit.

“What I really liked about FloQast was that it was lightweight, easy to use, and easy to implement,” said Eric Domagalski, who implemented FloQast while serving as corporate controller at Austin-based WP Engine. “I loved that [FloQast] integrated with Box and NetSuite, which we were already using. We leverage Box for storing reconciliations and other accounting data, and NetSuite’s where I have links to my journal entry support. I wasn’t looking for a third place to have data as well. I thought that was great.”

The Impact: NetSuite Customers Swear by Close Management Software

After implementing FloQast to streamline its month-end close, Los Angeles-based NetSuite customer Theragun found that FloQast AutoRec, an AI-based tool designed to automate the reconciliation process, was able to save its team hours each month on the utterly tedious task of manually matching thousands of transactions. Ultimately, AutoRec was able to save Senior Accountant Chris Wagner several days each month.

“Prior to FloQast AutoRec, some of these accounts would take an entire day to perform. With AutoRec, it takes an hour or less per account. Across 10 accounts, this results in three-days of work saved. Both FloQast and AutoRec give me peace of mind so I can worry about other stuff — focusing on tax-compliance and other strategic tasks that are necessary as the business grows.”

Perhaps the most resounding praise for FloQast from a NetSuite customer comes from Bay Area-based database software company MongoDB, which filed its IPO in late-2017 and relies on close management software to organize a large, geographically-distributed accounting team with offices across the globe.

“I go with the mantra that if it’s not done in FloQast, it’s not done,” said Senior Manager — Corporate Accounting Ami Modi. “FloQast’s sign-off feature really gives me control over the close. Because of the direct NetSuite integration, you don’t have the risk that you’re giving a reconciliation to the auditor that doesn’t match in NetSuite. Having that assurance is why I would recommend FloQast to other NetSuite customers — whether they’re publicly traded or not.” 

John Siegel

John Siegel is a Corporate Communications Manager at FloQast. Prior to joining the company, he wrote about Los Angeles-based tech companies for Built In LA. You can follow him on Twitter @JVNSiegel.