Why Finance Teams Integrate NetSuite with Spend Management Software

NetSuite is the go-to ERP for fast-growing businesses that need structure, control, and scalability across their financial operations. But as companies scale, so do the demands on their finance teams—especially when it comes to managing expenses, vendor payments, and real-time reporting.

While NetSuite offers a powerful backend for accounting, it isn’t built to handle the daily realities of company-wide spend: employee claims, invoice approvals, cross-entity reconciliation, and the constant chase for accurate data. That’s where integration becomes essential.

In this article, we’ll explore the limits of using NetSuite alone, and how integrating it with a purpose-built spend management tool like Summit can help finance teams move faster, reduce errors, and gain real-time visibility—without disrupting their existing workflows.

Why Businesses Use NetSuite for Accounting

NetSuite is widely known as the ERP of choice for growing and mid-sized companies, especially those with complex operations, multiple entities, or global reach. It’s robust, scalable, and built to handle far more than just accounting—it supports inventory, procurement, CRM, and even e-commerce.

Finance teams rely on NetSuite for its powerful reporting, real-time visibility, and support for advanced financial workflows like consolidated reporting, multi-currency management, and tax compliance. With its high level of configurability, NetSuite can adapt to a company’s unique structure, making it ideal for businesses that have moved beyond entry-level accounting platforms.

But while NetSuite excels at being a central financial system, it isn’t built to manage employee expenses, reimbursements, or vendor payments in a user-friendly way—especially when speed, simplicity, and control are needed across departments.

The Limits of Using NetSuite Alone

NetSuite gives finance teams excellent backend control—but it’s not always built for front-line usability. That’s where gaps begin to emerge:

• Employee experience is clunky. Non-finance users struggle to submit claims or understand what details are needed, leading to incomplete or incorrect data.
• Approval workflows are rigid. Customising expense approvals by team, amount, or type often requires development resources.
• Month-end is heavy. Expenses and reimbursements often pile up until the end of the month, causing reconciliation delays and accuracy risks.
• Global teams struggle. Without a smooth interface for international teams, submitting expenses or vendor invoices becomes inconsistent across entities.
  
  

To close these gaps, forward-looking finance teams turn to integrations that enhance NetSuite—not replace it. That’s where Summit comes in.

How NetSuite Integration Enhances Spend Management

Summit acts as the modern, intuitive spend management layer on top of your finance stack—purpose-built for teams that run on NetSuite but need better tools for managing company-wide spend.

Here’s how Summit’s native NetSuite integration solves real-world pain points for finance teams.

1. Smart, Flexible Setup

Summit’s NetSuite integration is designed with flexibility in mind. You can map Summit categories directly to your NetSuite chart of accounts, departments, locations, and subsidiaries. Whether you’re managing one entity or ten, Summit supports multi-entity configurations that align perfectly with your NetSuite instance.

This eliminates duplication of effort and ensures that expense data flows into NetSuite in the exact structure your finance team expects.

2. Two-Way Sync for Complete Accuracy

With Summit’s integration, syncing data isn’t just a one-way export—it’s a true two-way sync. Here’s what that looks like:

• From NetSuite to Summit: Chart of accounts, vendors, departments, and tax codes are imported automatically—so employee-submitted claims or invoice approvals in Summit always use the right data.
• From Summit to NetSuite: Approved expenses, vendor bills, and reimbursements flow into NetSuite with all relevant metadata (GL code, department, subsidiary, tax class, etc.).
• Status updates flow back: Once a bill or expense is marked paid in NetSuite, Summit automatically updates the status, closing the loop for both finance and employees.

This level of integration significantly reduces human error and keeps both systems perfectly in sync.

3. Workflow Automation, Tailored for Finance

Summit gives finance teams the control they need without the friction. Set up multi-level approval workflows by team, spend type, or amount—without relying on NetSuite scripts or consultants. You can:

• Route expenses to managers or finance leads
• Automatically flag high-value or policy-breaking claims
• Assign different workflows to different entities or departments

This takes a huge administrative load off finance, all while ensuring compliance.

4. Real-Time Visibility and Reconciliation

One of the most powerful benefits of Summit’s NetSuite integration is what happens before expenses hit your books.

Summit becomes your pre-accounting layer, where you can see real-time spend as it’s submitted and approved. No more surprises at month-end. Finance teams can review, approve, and sync transactions throughout the month—flattening the spike in workload during closing periods.

Use Cases: Finance Teams That Got More Out of NetSuite

Scenario: A Regional SaaS Company Scaling Across APAC

This business uses NetSuite to manage consolidated reporting across five entities in different countries. Expense claims were being submitted via email and spreadsheets, with finance manually entering each item into NetSuite.

After integrating Summit:

• Each entity had its own Summit workspace, configured with NetSuite subsidiaries, currencies, and tax codes.
• Employees submitted expenses in their local currency, with Summit handling the FX conversion and syncing the correct base currency value into NetSuite.
• Vendor invoices routed through custom approval flows based on amount and department, with Summit syncing fully coded bills to NetSuite once approved.
• Finance reduced manual entry time by over 80%, cut closing time by 3 days, and gained full visibility into entity-level spend—before it hit their books.

The result? A streamlined finance operation that retained the power of NetSuite but gained the speed and usability of Summit.

A Stronger Spend Management Solution with NetSuite + Summit

Summit helps finance teams supercharge NetSuite by handling the parts of spend management that NetSuite wasn’t built for. With Summit’s NetSuite integration, you can:

• Auto-sync approved spend: Push approved reimbursements, corporate card transactions, and vendor bills into NetSuite—fully coded and categorised.
• Automate reconciliation: Reimbursement and bill payment statuses are updated across systems in real time, reducing follow-ups and close-time stress.
• Maintain full visibility and control: Summit shows you what’s being spent in real time, helping finance leaders take action before issues arise.
• Simplify employee experience: Employees submit claims in a simple, intuitive UI—while finance gets structured, accurate data that syncs straight to NetSuite.
  
  

It’s the best of both worlds: the power and structure of NetSuite, paired with the modern automation and ease-of-use that Summit brings. Talk to us to find out how you can get started.