This article is relevant if you are using NetSuite to process customer payments and you are wondering why subtabs are missing.

Background

A relatively new NetSuite user reached out to our firm and asked why he is seeing only one Invoice sublist tab on an existing NetSuite Customer Payment record, in contrast to seeing three sublist tabs: Invoices, Credits and Deposits.   In other words, when editing an existing customer payment record, the Credits and Deposits sublists are missing.  Where are they?

I provided some background on this situation in a private email and realized that a number of NetSuite users in the community are likely wondering about it and what to do.

Click the two images to get a better understanding of the missing tab concern.

NetSuite Customer Payment Record Considerations

Without a doubt, there is a difference between what you see when you create a new Customer Payment and what you see when you edit an existing one. Anyone may wonder why this is the case.

Indeed, it is curious to have missing field elements when editing a record as almost every record in NetSuite allows for edits in full fidelity from the way they were created — one would expect with any business application that the structure of the record is the same when creating, editing and viewing.

In my mind, there is a less-than-obvious concern that must be addressed with these records. A customer payment record will be locked once you close the accounting period. Hence, we are going to have to address the issue of lack of edits, as we won’t be able to change the record when the books are closed.  Likewise, invoices or credits amounts that were (partially) applied will not be available for modification in a locked period.

I discuss the full solution to these challenges (and others) in my 2022 article, Learn how to Apply Remaining Unapplied NetSuite Cash. The key is understanding how to produce a Zero Dollar Customer Payment to Apply Credits to Debits.

Contemplate NetSuite Cash Receipt Incomplete Application Practices

In some respects, when we are not sure how to fully apply cash from customers to our invoices and credit memos, it may make more sense to leave the funds in the account completely unapplied. This is because it is tricky to unapply payments once they are applied—especially once the accounting period is closed.

You can always work around these situations.  Many times, it is valuable to think about the most commonly anticipated situations and then design for those while working to minimize mismatching and other application troubles.

Design Scalable Accounts Receivable Practices

I recently posted an article, Planning for NetSuite Driven Accounts Receivable Controls, to help organizations contemplate their situations, configurations and practices for designing a well-run NetSuite-driven accounts receivable operation.

I further wrote that we offer our clients a completely license-free NetSuite Cash Receipt application designed for organizations with high-transaction volume and electronic cash receipts. Please see my article, Get an Alternative Scalable NetSuite Cash Application Manager.  Any organization that wishes to avoid recurring third-party charges for enhanced NetSuite software should value this capability.

NetSuite Bookkeeping Nuances

The NetSuite financial system is fundamentally strong and capable. Sometimes, there are tricks and techniques to get the most out of the application. In that vein, just a few weeks ago, I crafted an article, Write Off Large Numbers of NetSuite Small Balances; often, these small balance issues grow in nature due to materiality but then later come to haunt us as our administrative costs grow.

The key is to understand that the NetSuite system usually has several ways to perform the same operation. Its relational design makes attacking transaction processing from different angles possible. Furthermore, the SuiteScript API often opens up new capabilities. Our firm is often engaged to help confirm the best NetSuite practices while crafting specialized applications to reduce processing and administrative costs when it makes sense.

If you found this article relevant, feel free to sign up for notifications to new articles as I post them. If you would like to streamline your accounts receivable operation, let’s have a conversation.

Marty Zigman

Holding all three official certifications, Marty is regarded as the top NetSuite expert and leads a team of senior professionals at Prolecto Resources, Inc. He is a former Deloitte & Touche CPA and has held CTO roles. For over 30 years, Marty has produced leadership in ERP, CRM and eCommerce business systems. Contact Marty to set up a conversation.

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