About the client
Apogee Biologics
Apogee Biologics is a clinical stage biotechnology company headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, advancing biologic therapies through a growing research and development footprint. The company runs 15 legal entities and was preparing for IPO when finance leadership engaged Archer Insights.
As a venture backed biotech approaching public listing, Apogee carried the audit, reporting, and controls expectations that come with that transition. The platform requirement was specific: US GAAP reporting across all 15 entities, end to end procure to pay, delegation of authority on every master data record and every journal entry, and audit trails that satisfy external auditors and SOX reviewers without manual assembly.
The challenge
A fresh NetSuite environment with the controls a public company requires
Apogee began with a clean NetSuite environment and quickly discovered the structural limitations that surface at most growth stage companies preparing for public reporting. The standard NetSuite configuration did not enforce the controls a public company is expected to operate under. Approval authority existed by convention. Records remained editable after approval. Audit history was scattered across system notes, third party logs, and the spreadsheets the finance team built to track what the platform did not.
The mandate from leadership was unambiguous. The platform that took Apogee through IPO had to be the platform that operated the company after IPO. There was no time for a remediation phase between the two. Controls, banking, and reporting had to land Day 01 in a state that would hold up under the scrutiny that comes with public reporting.
What was breaking down
- New chart of accounts entries, departments, classes, locations, and journal entries could be created and used without executive review
- Conventional approval workflows lacked creator approver separation and did not lock records on approval
- Approval history was incomplete and lived across system notes, spreadsheets, and third party tools
- Vendor bills, payments, and bank reconciliation required cross system matching with spreadsheet support
- Fixed assets, mid life imports, and depreciation setup were error prone and reconciled manually
- Demonstrating change history, approval routing, and segregation of duties to auditors required cross system documentation each audit cycle
What was at stake
- IPO diligence would surface every control gap, and each gap would be a question on the deal calendar
- SOX Section 302 and 404 readiness would have to be achieved against a moving platform rather than a settled baseline
- Manual reconciliation against bank statements would not scale across 15 entities through the period of highest scrutiny
- Finance capacity needed for IPO preparation would be absorbed by control remediation work instead
- The credibility of the financial reporting infrastructure would be tested at the moment when credibility mattered most
Why Archer Insights
A partner who designs for IPO scrutiny
Apogee needed a partner who had configured NetSuite to meet public company expectations and could deliver that configuration on a compressed timeline. Archer Insights was selected based on its exclusive focus on life sciences companies and its track record of delivering IPO ready environments for clinical stage biotechs.
Archer brought the Archer AI Approval Module and a Built for Pharma methodology that had been validated across comparable engagements. The configuration set Apogee needed was not bespoke development. It was a proven framework adapted to a 15 entity operating profile and delivered in a single phased program.
The solution
One platform, enforced controls, audit ready from Day 01
Archer Insights delivered a focused NetSuite Financials First implementation structured around three non negotiable outcomes: enforced delegation of authority across all master data and transactions, native banking and payments inside the ERP through JPM Fispan, and complete self contained audit trails stored under every record.
Archer IPO ready architecture flow
01 Master data governance
AI Approval Module on COA, departments, classes, locations
Records default to Pending Approval and lock until reviewed
02 Journal entry enforcement
Creator not equal to approver as a system rule
No user can post and approve the same journal entry
03 Procure to pay
Vendor onboarding plus OCR bill capture
Paperless intake with approval routing inside NetSuite
04 Native banking
JPM Fispan ACH and EFT execution
Payments run from NetSuite; daily reconciliation against bank feeds
05 Auditor self service
Full approval and change history under each record
Auditors pull the complete trail without finance team involvement
Every record carries its own audit evidence. No external portals, no spreadsheet supplementation, no manual assembly during diligence.
What Archer Built
01 Archer AI Approval Module across master data and transactions
The Archer AI Approval Module was deployed to govern chart of accounts, dimensions, journal entries, and related records. Custom approval fields capture approval status, next approver, created by, rejection reasons, and withdrawal tracking. Every record defaults to Pending Approval and locks until reviewed by designated executives. Edits after approval require re approval through a controlled workflow.
The configuration covers the records auditors examine first. Master data changes carry the same evidence trail as transactional records. The platform produces what diligence and audit require as a byproduct of normal operations.
02 15 entity multi entity financials with automated consolidation
All 15 legal entities were configured under NetSuite multi entity financials with automated intercompany eliminations. Separate books roll up cleanly for consolidated US GAAP reporting. Real time consolidated views replace the spreadsheet assembly that used to precede every board meeting. Intercompany journal entries are supported natively across the entity structure.
03 JPM Fispan native banking integration
Payments execute directly from NetSuite. ACH and EFT instructions are issued natively through the JPM Fispan integration. Bank feeds clear transactions daily. Reconciliation happens automatically inside the ERP. The audit trail is unbroken: approval to commitment to payment to bank confirmation to GL posting all in one system.
Bill.com and the manual reconciliation that surrounded it were decommissioned. Cash position is visible in real time rather than at month end.
04 Vendor onboarding and OCR bill capture
Vendor onboarding was automated through a structured intake flow that captures required documentation, runs compliance checks, and activates the vendor in NetSuite under approval controls. Invoice intake runs through optical character recognition, extracting vendor, amount, and line item data and creating a bill record without manual entry. Procure to pay is paperless and governed from the first touch.
05 Fixed Assets Management with automated proposals
The Fixed Assets Management SuiteApp was configured for asset proposals from transactions, straight line depreciation, transfers, and disposals. Mid life imports were automated rather than reconciled by hand. Net book value tracking is accurate across the asset register, and the full audit history sits inside NetSuite alongside the rest of the record.
06 Roles, permissions, and single sign on through Okta
Roles were designed to enforce segregation of duties at the permission level. Single sign on through Okta unifies authentication with the rest of Apogee’s technology estate. The security model is audit ready: each user has the minimum permissions required to do the work, and the conflicting permissions are structurally separated rather than addressed through compensating policy.
Modules Deployed
| Module | What It Does | Impact At Apogee |
|---|---|---|
| Archer AI Approval Module | Custom approval fields and workflows for COA, departments, journal entries, dimensions | Creator not equal to approver enforced; full history under each record |
| NetSuite multi entity financials | 15 legal entities with automated consolidations and intercompany eliminations | SOX and IPO ready reporting; no manual eliminations |
| JPM Fispan banking integration | Direct ACH and EFT execution with daily automated reconciliation | Cash visibility in real time; Bill.com decommissioned |
| Fixed Assets Management SuiteApp | Asset proposals, straight line depreciation, transfers, disposals | Automated mid life imports and accurate NBV tracking |
| Vendor Onboarding and OCR Bill Capture | Structured vendor intake and automated invoice ingestion | Procure to pay fully governed and paperless |
| Roles, permissions, SSO via Okta | Precise segregation of duties and unified authentication | Audit ready security model integrated with the broader estate |
Outcomes
What changed after go live
Operational results
- 15 legal entities consolidated under one NetSuite environment with automated intercompany eliminations
- ACH and EFT payments execute directly from NetSuite; daily bank feed reconciliation runs automatically
- Procure to pay runs paperless from vendor intake through bill capture to payment
- Master data records default to Pending Approval and lock on approval with full history captured
- Bill.com and the manual reconciliation it required were retired alongside go live
Finance and control results
- Auditors with read access trace any journal, vendor bill, or master data record through the complete approval chain without involving finance
- SOX readiness is structural rather than procedural; certifications back controls the platform actually enforces
- IPO diligence questions are answered from inside NetSuite rather than reconstructed from spreadsheets
- Finance capacity shifted from control remediation to IPO preparation and strategic analysis
- Cash position is visible in real time across the 15 entity structure
The Archer edge
What makes this different from a standard NetSuite implementation
NetSuite ships with general financial, banking, and approval capabilities. What Archer Insights brings is the AI Approval Module, the configuration logic, and the life sciences implementation experience that makes those capabilities meet IPO and SOX expectations from Day 01.
Companies that treat audit readiness as a quarterly exercise spend disproportionate time preparing documentation. Companies that embed audit ready architecture into the platform produce the required evidence as a byproduct of normal operations. Archer designs every engagement around the second model.
The practical test is what an auditor can see without asking the finance team for anything. At Apogee, an auditor with read access can pull any record and trace the full chain from approval to payment to GL posting inside one system. That is what true audit readiness looks like.
Build IPO ready financial controls into NetSuite
If your biotech is implementing NetSuite ahead of public listing or strategic transaction and needs SOX and IPO grade controls, enforced delegation of authority, and native banking integration from Day 01, Archer Insights can show you what a fully governed financial infrastructure looks like.
Schedule a NetSuite IPO readiness assessment archerinsights.com