Today, we're going to compare NetSuite and Sage Intacct. Both promise faster closes, easier reporting, and less spreadsheet chaos—and while they’ve over-delivered in some areas, big gaps remain in the last mile of reporting.
Both tools have big gaps in their closing and reporting functions that leave finance teams struggling with manual reconciliations, disclosure management, audit prep, and other headaches. Their strengths diverge in ways that matter depending on your company’s size, complexity, and needs.
Before we get into the weeds, here’s the TLDR:
- NetSuite is best suited for multi-entity, global enterprises that need automation and compliance at scale. NetSuite is complex but rigid in many ways, and many processes still need to be done manually.
- Sage Intacct is great for domestic or mid-market firms that need intuitive reporting, faster deployment, and a more streamlined experience without all the complexity. In many ways, what it makes up for in speed and ease of use, it lacks in comprehensiveness. For North American firms that don’t need extensive global functionality, Intacct is consistently rated higher than NetSuite on G2 in usability & reporting agility.
Today, we’re breaking these differences more and looking at where both NetSuite and Intacct fall short in the last mile delivery of reports. We'll discuss what to consider if you’re choosing between them, evaluating your stack, or even looking to complement your setup with Inscope. Let’s dive in.
NetSuite vs Sage Intacct: Last-Mile Reporting Gaps
We understand finance teams have to face this ugly reality every reporting season. While ERPs do a lot of heavy lifting, finalizing reports still takes a ton of manual work.
It’s a little like food delivery. Getting the package across the last mile to the person waiting at home is the most expensive, difficult part of the flow.
NetSuite
It goes without saying that NetSuite can do a lot. But trying to get final financial statements and disclosures from NetSuite presents some big challenges.
Rigid report formats and customization challenges
NetSuite comes with many out-of-the-box reports, but customizing or formatting them for external reporting can be difficult.
Controllers often have to export NetSuite financials to Excel to reorganize them or add formatting like grouping accounts for GAAP presentation, adding commentary, or adding subtotals. This manual Excel work creates opportunities for human errors and version chaos.
Lack of native narrative/disclosure management
NetSuite’s core ERP does not include a built-in tool for narrative reporting or footnote disclosures.
If you need to compile a full financial report package, NetSuite alone won’t do it. Oracle has introduced NetSuite Narrative Reporting as part of its Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) suite, an add-on that lets you combine financial data with textual narrative in one collaborative environment. But this is a separate module (outside the core NetSuite ERP) and often requires additional purchase and implementation. Instead, many users resort to Word for narratives.
Manual reconciliations and close task tracking
NetSuite provides a Period Close Checklist and recently added an Account reconciliation module, but companies with high volumes or complex reconciliations often find they need more. It’s a telling sign that many companies use close management tools on top of that to help with areas like task workflow, checklist management, and reconciliation.
Version control and collaboration difficulties
Collaborating in the report documents from NetSuite usually happens outside their system. Without a dedicated reporting collaboration tool, finance teams end up emailing spreadsheets back and forth or sharing a drive. This creates a version control nightmare. That can make audit preparation much harder as well.
This is exactly the type of manual version control problem that Inscope eliminates by dynamically linking financial data to every disclosure and schedule.
Native cash flow and specialized reports
NetSuite can generate an indirect cash flow statement, but sometimes you need adjustments or customizations to get it in the exact GAAP format needed. Complex scenarios (like segment reporting, partial ownership of subsidiaries, or comprehensive income statements) may need custom reports or external tools.
It’s the last mile polish in creating that final audit-ready package where NetSuite falls short.
Sage Intacct
When it comes to last-mile external reporting and complex workflows, Intacct is no perfect story either.
Reports vs statement package
Intacct’s native reports are robust and valuable for internal use. But when creating full financial statement packages, Intacct can also fall short. You often have to export to Excel to assemble multi-entity statements or to apply custom formatting that the native report writer in Intacct can’t do. One common example of this shortcoming is when teams need to create a combined report book or apply intricate formatting. In Intacct, this is very limited without exporting data.
No native disclosure management
Like NetSuite, Intacct lacks a built-in module for narrative disclosures and document-style reporting. There is no feature to let you input footnotes and dynamically link them to financial data or to manage end-to-end report compilation with approvals and commentary.
Account reconciliations
Certain financial close reporting or financial statement automation activities are still manual or require external support, like reconciliations.
Intacct can reconcile bank accounts and maintain an audit trail of GL entries, but for a truly automated reconciliation process with templates or auto-certification rules, many Intacct users add BlackLine or other tools. In many cases, users still need extra spreadsheets to consolidate data from multiple sources for reporting.
Version control and audit trail gaps
Within Intacct, every transaction and entry is tracked (the system has robust audit trails at the record level). However, once financial data is exported for external reporting, Intacct can’t help track changes in those documents.
If the finance team compiles a Word doc for disclosures, Intacct won’t know if someone changed a number or text in that document. The consistency between Intacct reports and the final Word/Excel reports relies on manual checks.
As closing schedules tighten, this can be risky. For example, a late journal entry in Intacct means someone must remember to update the Excel financial statements and all references to that number. The lack of inherent linking means risk of inconsistency.
During audits, Intacct users often have to provide Excel workpapers that tie the Intacct trial balance to the published financial statements, a labor-intensive effort if done manually.
Collaboration
Just like NetSuite, Intacct has good multi-user functions for entering and approving transactions, but lacks great multi-user capabilities for assembling reports.
How Inscope Closes the Gap in GAAP Reporting
Sage Intacct simplifies and automates accounting more than reporting. Meanwhile, NetSuite provides a solid financial close in terms of calculations and consolidation, but also doesn’t solve the last step of reporting natively. For the last-mile production of polished GAAP-compliant statements and packages, both Intacct and NetSuite firms have to do a lot of extra work. And at the end of the day, manual processes introduce chaos and risk.
This is where Inscope can help. It doesn’t matter whether you’re on NetSuite or Intacct: the goal is to eliminate the manual, error-prone steps in your reporting workflow.
The good news is that you don’t have to settle for a manual process. Inscope is designed to complement your ERP, whether you choose NetSuite vs Intacct, by automating the production of accurate, GAAP-compliant reports and ensuring consistency across every document. It adds the workflow, collaboration, and audit-ready rigor that neither ERP provides on its own.
The result is a faster close, a smoother audit, and a finance team that can spend time on analysis instead of fighting with formatting.
Ready to make the switch? See how Inscope can streamline your next close → Book a demo