This article is written for Senior Accounting Professionals who would like to learn how to leverage their accounting prowess to become a highly valued NetSuite consultant.
TL;DR Summary
Senior accountants often make excellent NetSuite consultants because they understand financial operations from the inside, can translate business needs into system requirements, and bring the judgment and leadership that will become even more valuable in the AI era. For accountants looking for a new career path that builds on their experience, NetSuite consulting can be a natural and rewarding extension of an accounting career.
Introduction:
In this week’s article, I take a break from the Revenue Recognition series to provide a glimpse into the Prolecto Accounting Practice from the inside and to show how, while unconventional, NetSuite consulting is a strong career path for accountants seeking opportunity and freshness in their professional development. In the article, I briefly describe my experience transitioning from traditional accounting to NetSuite consulting and offer three reasons why accountants with NetSuite experience should consider applying their talents to the consulting space.
A Personal Story: From Corporate Controller to Trusted NetSuite Advisor
I started my accounting career as a “full charge” bookkeeper, gradually becoming the corporate controller for a global distribution company that happened to use an interesting accounting and operations system called “NetSuite.” I got to know the software and was inquisitive, always trying to learn more about it and to find ways to make my day-to-day work more efficient.
Oftentimes, it felt like I was wrestling with the system to extract the right type of reporting and financial insights that the business owners were looking for. A combination of necessity and curiosity fueled my growing expertise in the platform, and I started to find ways to improve things. Gradually, I looked at the software as an ally rather than an adversary.
After a decade at that company, it was time to move on, and after a brief stint as a director of accounting at a Real Estate company, I felt restless. I wanted to be more independent, but I wasn’t interested in the kinds of risks that starting a business would entail.
At this time, the thought of NetSuite consulting hadn’t occurred to me as a possible path. I had worked with NetSuite consultants in the past, and they were all software developers. Yet, after a series of fortuitous conversations, my friend Elie C. introduced me to Marty Zigman, and I joined Prolecto as a NetSuite consultant, and I haven’t looked back since.
Over the past 8 years, since I joined, Marty has graciously mentored me, my NetSuite aptitude has developed, and in 2024, we formalized the “Accounting Practice” at Prolecto.
The NetSuite Journey
Looking back, I realize there are likely other senior Accounting professionals in a similar situation to mine who may not realize that, though perhaps not traditional, a NetSuite career can be rewarding and a logical path for them.
There are many reasons why Accountants make good consultants, but I offer the following three, which I expand on in the remainder of this article:
- Accountants gain an “insider’s perspective” when using NetSuite, which proves invaluable to clients.
- Accountants can function as a valuable bridge, translating business and finance knowledge into technical requirements
- The nascent AI age requires wisdom, intuition, and thought leadership that strong accountants possess.
Reason 1: NetSuite Consultants with Accounting Experience Provide an Insider’s Perspective
NetSuite consultants with hands-on Controllership, Sr. Accounting, or CFO experience possess insights and perspectives that cannot be taught. The hard-won knowledge of actually closing the books, explaining balances to auditors, tying out subledgers, recording accruals, and measuring gross margins inside NetSuite produces a deep, intuitive understanding of what the system needs to do and what it feels like when it falls short.
This shared experience can transform client conversations. When a Controller describes the stress of trying to explain the Accrued Purchases balance to the CFO, or of needing to manually book entries to accrue Drop-Ship COGS due to late Vendor Bills, we are not just listening empathetically. We are listening as peers who have been in that chair. That credibility opens doors that purely technical consultants often cannot. Clients feel understood rather than just heard.
And understanding the pain is only half of it. The other half is knowing that it does not have to be that way. Having experienced firsthand what a well-configured, well-disciplined NetSuite environment can do, we are in a position to offer genuine hope rather than just sympathy, backed by concrete best practices, automation strategies, and reporting tools that can dramatically change the day-to-day experience of an accounting team.
Reason 2: Accountants are a Bridge between Business Executives and Software Developers
One of the key challenges in implementing software is finding a common language between clients and implementation teams. The former know their business very well, but have little to no background in software implementation. The latter understands the software, but often struggles to understand the complexities of the client’s business.
One of the frequent comments we hear from clients who come to us to fix a problematic NetSuite environment is “right software, wrong implementation.”A key reason for implementations gone wrong is the lack of alignment between the business stakeholders and the implementation partner.
This is why consultants with a strong accounting background and solid NetSuite experience are so valuable. They can grasp the nuances of client business requirements when expressed in the client’s vernacular and can translate the requirements into practical considerations for NetSuite. When custom development work is warranted, they can convey the requirements for technical work to a technical developer in NetSuite language, serving as a client advocate who really “gets” what is needed, and reducing the potential for confusion.
One of the most satisfying aspects of NetSuite consulting is hearing our clients express their satisfaction and pleasant surprise at our ability to summarize their business in a way that resonates with them, using terminology that they are familiar with, and then convert that into a design for implementation. This ability powers our “Roadmapping” process, where we spend two to four days on-site with clients, listening to their end-to-end processes and mapping out a holistic vision for their NetSuite environment.
Reason 3: AI and the Changing Landscape for Accountants
Like nearly every professional across industries, accountants are grappling with the rapid rise of AI and what it means for their future. AI tools are improving at a pace that is both exciting and sobering, and the question of how to stay relevant is a real one.
I don’t think accountants are going away anytime soon, but I do think the market will increasingly favor those who bring wisdom, sound intuition, and thought leadership to their work. A colleague recently put it well: AI is good at telling us “how” to do things, but less good at defining “what” should be done and “when.” That rings true to me. Knowing how to configure an item record for revenue recognition is one thing. Interpreting contracts for potential revenue implications and providing judgment on an optimal approach is quite another
These qualities are not just survival skills for the AI age. They are precisely the qualities that distinguish good NetSuite consultants from great ones. A consultant who can tell a client what buttons to click is useful. A consultant who can explain to a client why their period-close process is producing unwanted balances in CTA and what to do about them is invaluable. If my prediction about the AI era is sound, then the skills accountants need to develop to stay relevant are the very same skills that make for an exceptional NetSuite consultant, making this career path a very natural fit for today’s senior accounting professional.
What It Looks Like in Practice: Accounting Instincts at Work
Here’s an anecdote from a recent engagement that illustrates the benefit of Consultants backed by Accounting career history.
A consumer goods company came to us looking to rationalize its Chart of Accounts and reporting dimensions, which had evolved over time as the business grew and priorities shifted. Brands, product categories, and size attributes had accumulated in the same classification field. Department codes had drifted out of sync with payroll. Some segmentation that belonged in dimensions had found its way into the GL account structure instead. Gabriel R. led the effort to untangle and redesign the framework across all of these areas.
What made this more than a configuration exercise was the judgment required at each design decision. Deciding where a “brand” lives in NetSuite determines what your P&L can show you and whether historical comparatives remain meaningful after the change. Gabriel could engage with the CFO and VP of Operations at the right level because he understood the reporting implications, not just the configuration options. That is the difference between a consultant who reorganizes the structure and one who helps the client understand what their financial data should be telling them going forward.
Join the NetSuite Consulting Ecosystem
If you are an accounting professional who enjoys systems, process improvement, and solving business problems, NetSuite consulting can be a natural extension of an accounting career. If you are interested in learning more about the path from accounting to NetSuite consulting, let’s connect, and I can share more details of what I have learned along the way.
