Understanding Accrual Types
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Organizations that want to automate their expense recognition processes must properly configure accrual types for vendors. This ensures that accrual worksheets reflect accurate, timely predictions about anticipated expenses, allowing finance teams to close books faster and with greater confidence.
For example, a company may have recurring services from a consulting firm without using purchase orders; in such cases, assigning a General Accruals type ensures that past billing data informs expense predictions.
This article provides administrators with step-by-step guidance for setting accrual types within vendor records using the SquareWorks Automate SuiteApp.
Assigning the correct accrual type to each vendor is a key configuration step that determines how predicted expenses will appear in the accrual worksheet. When the SquareWorks Automate SuiteApp is installed, a custom field is added to vendor records, enabling administrators to define how the system should calculate expected accruals. This configuration ensures that only the vendors intended for automated accruals are included and that the underlying logic aligns with actual business processes.
There are Three options for accruals to choose from on a vendor record:
Purchase Order Accruals: This option is best for vendors whose expenses are tracked through open purchase order lines. An estimate will be calculated for all approved open PO lines associated with this vendor. If start and end dates are entered on the PO, the amount will be prorated evenly between the date provided. Additionally, any applicable bills/JEs pending approval will be accrued. Note: Purchase Orders will need to be in an approved status. Please keep this in mind when designing your Purchase Order approval process.
General Accruals: This is best for vendors with recurring bills not tied to purchase orders; predictions are based on historical billing patterns. An estimate will be calculated using a rolling 3 month average of Bills/Journal entries posted for the vendor in addition to applicable vendor bills/JEs pending approval.
Blank: No calculated estimate will be performed. Only applicable vendor bills/JEs pending approval will be accrued.
The following steps explain how to assign these accrual types to a vendor using the SquareWorks Automate SuiteApp:
To begin assigning an accrual type, first search for the vendor you wish to configure by entering the vendor name (e.g., Apex Financial Consulting) in the global search bar:
Once you’ve identified the vendor from the results, click the vendor name to open its record:
To access the necessary settings, navigate to the Custom tab on the vendor record. If the field isn’t located there, keep in mind that NetSuite forms are customizable, and the field may appear elsewhere depending on configuration:
Now, to enable editing of the accrual type, click the Edit button:
After entering edit mode, locate the AUTOMATE ACCRUALS TYPE dropdown field. This field will be blank by default on all vendor records upon installation of the SuiteApp:
If your vendor uses purchase orders, select the Purchase Order Accruals option from the dropdown:
This allows the system to base accrual estimates on open purchase order lines, which is ideal for structured procurement workflows with established spending limits.
But if your vendor does not use purchase orders but has consistent billing over time, choose the General Accruals option from the dropdown:
This instructs the system to use the past three months of vendor bills to calculate expected accruals.
Once the appropriate option has been selected, click the Save button to apply the configuration to the vendor record:
Note: If you need to assign accrual types to multiple vendors at once, you can use a CSV upload to update in bulk using NetSuite’s CSV import tool.
This concludes the process for configuring accrual types within the SquareWorks Automate SuiteApp.
