NetSuite Tip: How to Close AP Journals Mistakenly Posted to a Customer

It’s one of those accounting “oops” moments in NetSuite: you’re trying to clear journal entries posted to an Accounts Payable (AP) account, only to realize they’re tied to a customer, not a vendor. If you’ve ever run into this, you’re not alone - and there’s a clean way out.

Let’s break down what happened and how to fix it.

The Setup

You’ve got a journal entry sitting in your AP GL account that looks like this:

Instead of tagging a vendor (which is required for AP workflows), someone tagged a customer to the AP line.

This means:

• You can’t pay it off through Pay Single Vendor
• You can’t “Accept Payment” through AR, because that only targets AR accounts
• And NetSuite won’t let you match AP and AR in a payment screen

You're stuck with journals that can’t be cleared through normal workflows—and they might even be revaluing if they’re in a foreign currency.

Why This Happens

NetSuite’s payment logic is entity-type driven:

• AP accounts expect vendor records
• AR accounts expect customer records

When a customer is tied to an AP journal, NetSuite doesn’t know what to do with it. And because no error pops up during journal entry creation, these issues often linger unnoticed until it’s time to close books.

Your Options: Two Ways to Clean This Up

Option 1: Reclass with a Journal Entry (Recommended)

This is the cleanest, most audit-friendly fix:

1. Create a reversing journal in an open period:
   • Debit AP using the same customer
   • Credit AP using the correct vendor (or a dummy cleanup vendor)
2. This cancels out the original JE and rebooks it to a payable tied to a vendor.
3. Now you can clear it through Pay Bills using a $0 payment.

Tip: Use the same currency and AP account to avoid FX variances or mismatches.

Option 2: Convert the Customer into a Dual Vendor

Need a quicker workaround? You can convert the customer into a vendor too.

1. Go to the Customer record
2. Navigate to the Relationships tab → click +Other Relationships

1. Select Vendor from the list and click Save

Now the customer record can be treated as a vendor, and you’ll be able to use standard AP workflows like Pay Single Vendor to clear the entry:

Bonus: This approach works well if the customer occasionally receives rebates, commissions, or refunds.

Prevent This in the Future

To avoid this issue going forward:

• Use a User Event Script or Workflow to prevent users from tagging customers on AP lines
• Train users or accountants on correct entity usage during CSV imports or manual JE creation

NetSuite gives you flexibility - but with that comes responsibility. Tagging the wrong entity type to a transaction may not throw an error, but it will absolutely cause trouble when it's time to reconcile, pay, or report.

When AP journals are posted to a customer:

• Reclass is the safest long-term fix
• Converting to a vendor is a fast, effective workaround

Still dealing with stuck transactions? Our Techfino team can help review your workflows and implement controls to keep your books clean and auditable.