If you work in finance, you already know how critical reporting is. Whether it’s month-end close, variance analysis, or board packs, your job depends on turning raw numbers into insights that leadership can trust. NetSuite is one of the most popular ERP systems, and it comes with a range of reporting options. But here’s the question finance teams keep asking: what are NetSuite’s reporting capabilities really good at, and where do they fall short?
This guide breaks it down in plain terms, so you can see where NetSuite works well, where it struggles, and how other tools can fill the gap.
What Are NetSuite's Core Reporting Capabilities?
NetSuite has several built-in options to help teams track performance. The main ones include standard reports, SuiteAnalytics, and saved searches.
NetSuite Reports: Standard and Pre-Built Options
NetSuite comes with ready-to-use financial reports such as profit and loss statements, balance sheets, and cash flow reports. These are clean and formatted for compliance or presentation.
They’re perfect for high-level snapshots, like giving a CFO an overview of revenue and margins across the business. But when controllers or FP&A teams want to customize layouts, add commentary, or compare versions of the same report across periods, NetSuite’s built-in reports can feel rigid.
SuiteAnalytics: Drag-and-Drop Dashboards Without Code
SuiteAnalytics provides a workbook interface where users can build reports without SQL. It’s useful for side-by-side comparisons, for example, a finance manager comparing departmental expenses versus budgets without calling in IT.
The strength of SuiteAnalytics is accessibility. Non-technical users can drag and drop data into pivot-like tables and charts. The limitation? It doesn’t go deep enough for advanced modelling. Forecasting scenarios, cash flow projections, or board-ready decks almost always get pushed back into Excel.
Saved Searches in NetSuite: Filtering Data, Not Reporting
Saved searches are probably the most used feature in NetSuite. They let you query transaction-level details, filter by parameters, and even schedule reports. Auditors love them because they can drill into every line item. Controllers often use them for GL reconciliations or audit prep.
But here’s the reality: a saved search isn’t a finished report. Finance teams often stretch saved searches to act like one, but it means lots of exports to Excel, manual formatting, and lost time.
We’ve covered this in more detail in our blog on NetSuite Saved Searches vs Reports .
Understanding NetSuite Dashboards and KPIs
NetSuite dashboards are role-based. A CFO may see consolidated revenue KPIs and cash balances, while an AP manager tracks overdue invoices and supplier payments. KPIs provide a quick “at a glance” health check, making them useful for day-to-day operations.
A CFO logging into NetSuite might focus on high-level KPIs like consolidated revenue, gross margins, or cash balances across subsidiaries. In contrast, an AP manager relies on dashboards to track overdue invoices, supplier payments, and approval bottlenecks. Both use the same dashboards feature, but their needs show how differently reporting is applied in practice, from strategic oversight to day-to-day operational control.
But dashboards have limits. They can’t replace detailed financial reports, and they’re rarely formatted for external stakeholders. For instance, you might track DSO (Days Sales Outstanding) on a dashboard, but you’d still need an export for a board pack or investor update.
Financial Reporting in NetSuite: Strengths, Shortfalls and Challenges
NetSuite’s financial reporting covers the basics well:
- Profit and loss
- Balance sheet
- Cash flow statements
These reports support filtering by class, department, or subsidiary. They also let you drill down into underlying transactions, which helps when reconciling numbers.
The shortfalls start when you scale:
- Multi-subsidiary and multi-currency reports can become messy.
- Board-ready formatting is nearly impossible without exporting.
- Variance analysis between actuals, budgets, and forecasts often requires workarounds.
In practice, most finance teams end up exporting to Excel to finish the job.
The Limitations of NetSuite Reporting Capabilities
Even though NetSuite provides a solid foundation, finance teams repeatedly hit the same roadblocks:
- Limited customisation: Layouts are fixed, and advanced changes require SuiteScript.
- Collaboration challenges: Reports are static PDFs or exports. Once shared, there’s no dynamic refresh.
- Compliance and audit gaps: Regulatory reports may require tailored formats that NetSuite doesn’t easily support.
- Version control headaches: The moment data leaves NetSuite, multiple copies begin circulating.
- Time cost: Finance teams lose hours every reporting cycle to cleaning and reformatting.
The outcome is clear: NetSuite is strong for visibility, but weak for flexibility.
Another common gap shows up in compliance reporting. For example, preparing IFRS or GAAP-compliant statements often requires tailored formats and narrative notes. NetSuite can provide the raw numbers, but it doesn’t natively handle the formatting or disclosures needed for auditors or regulators. Teams often export to Excel, add supporting schedules, and reformat for compliance, adding extra work and risk of errors.
If your team relies heavily on exports, our guide on Common Mistakes Finance Teams Make with NetSuite Exports to Excel explores the risks and fixes.
NetSuite vs Excel Reporting: What Finance Teams Prefer
Despite NetSuite’s capabilities, Excel is still the backbone of finance teams. It’s where forecasting models live, where scenario planning happens, and where board-ready decks are polished.
Take a month-end close as an example. You run your NetSuite reports, export to Excel, and then:
- Adjust layouts for leadership.
- Add commentary for variances.
- Consolidate multiple subsidiaries into one view.
This works but it’s slow, prone to errors, and risks multiple “versions of the truth.”
That’s why some teams adopt Excel add-ins like SuiteReport that connect directly to NetSuite. With live data feeding Excel, they get the flexibility of spreadsheets without the manual exports. It’s the middle ground between control and accuracy.
Custom Reports in NetSuite: Are They Worth the Effort?
Yes, you can build custom reports with SuiteScript or advanced PDF layouts. But most finance leaders will tell you the same thing:
- Development takes time.
- Custom reports cost money.
- Every NetSuite update risks breaking the scripts.
For example, a controller might ask IT for a custom consolidated cash flow report. It works fine at first, but after a system update, the formatting breaks and you’re back to square one.
In many cases, custom reports feel like patchwork rather than a long-term solution.
In a Nutshell: Extending NetSuite Reporting Capabilities
NetSuite’s reporting capabilities give you a strong foundation: real-time visibility, dashboards, saved searches, and prebuilt financials. But for many finance teams, that’s just the starting point. When reporting cycles get intense, those built-in tools show their limits.
That’s where tools like SuiteReport step in. As an Excel add-in, SuiteReport pulls live NetSuite data directly into your spreadsheets. No exports, no reformatting, no juggling multiple versions. Finance professionals get to work in Excel, the tool they already trust, but with the reliability of real-time NetSuite data.
At the end of the day, reporting should be about insights, not formatting. If NetSuite reporting has ever felt like a bottleneck, it may be time to extend its capabilities with tools designed for the way finance actually works.
