Journal Entry Approval Overview

NetSuite provides two journal entry approval accounting preferences.

Journal Entries – This accounting preference is on the Approval Routing subtab of the Accounting Preferences page. When the Journal Entries box is checked, a workflow for journal entry approval handles approval routing. The workflow may be a custom SuiteFlow or a SuiteApproval workflow. Workflows for journal entry approval do not use the Journal Approval permission to determine who can approve the journal entries. For more information about these options, see Using SuiteFlow for Journal Entry Approvals and SuiteApprovals SuiteApp.

Note:
If you enable Approval Routing for journal entries, you can only approve 25 journal entries at a time.

If you use the Advanced Revenue Management (Essentials) feature, create a custom form for your system-generated revenue recognition and reclassification journal entries and exclude it from your workflows. Select the custom form in the accounting preferences Default Revenue Recognition Journal Entry Form and Default Reclassification Journal Entry Form.
Require Approvals on Journal Entries – This accounting preference is on the General subtab of the Accounting Preferences page in the General Ledger section. When this preference is checked, journal entry approval is required before posting to your general ledger account. Someone with Journal Approval (Edit or Full) permission must approve a journal entry before the entry posts to your general ledger. If you have this Journal Approval permission, you can approve your own journal entries when entering them. For more information this preference, see Require Approvals on Journal Entries Preference.

The following permission levels are required to create, edit, or delete approved journals:
- Users must have the Edit level of the Journal Approval permission to edit an approved journal.
- Users must have the Full level of the Journal Approval permission to delete an approved journal.
Note:
With this preference enabled, journal entry reversals are approved when their corresponding journal entry is approved. A reversal will not be approved if its corresponding journal entry is also not approved. For more on approving reversals and their journal entries, see Reversing Journal Entries.

A journal entry is posted in a period to which the journal entry approver has access. Until a journal entry is approved, NetSuite displays the posting period based on the transaction date. If this period is locked or closed, the posting period is determined by the accounting preference Default Posting Period When Transaction Date in Closed Periods.

You can unapprove an approved journal entry by editing the journal record and clearing the Approved box. Do not clear the Approved box if the journal entry is linked to a payment transaction. You must unapply the payment before you clear the Approved box.

For more information on approving journal entries, see Approving Journal Entries.

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