Does SOX compliance (or any other regulatory requirements) prohibit deletion of records/transactions? There are instances where it's so messy to create reversing or correcting JEs. Or is okay deletion as long as it's justified? But how to do that in NS?

there is the deleting reason when you delete a transaction. Note that if the transaction has any other record as reference or referenced by other transactions then you cannot delete it - it is by design to make it compliant

We implemented the feature Sam mentioned to provide that justification. https://docs.oracle.com/en/cloud/saas/netsuite/ns-online-help/section_4338624600.html

helpful presentation for SOX control (shameless self promotion 🙂 ) https://static.rainfocus.com/oracle/sw19/sess/1546631310573001gv1X/PDFPF%20/FIN1526SES_THURS_1553185241855001B1fO.pdf

Thank you. It's very helpful. Are the auditors generally satisfied with the deletion reason feature although they won't be able to see the actual deleted data (only bits of it)?

Over the year I have used external system like Jira, confluence or even SharePoint to keep parallel reference of theapproval record for the deletion action.As long you have  auditable reference documentations it should be fine for auditors.