When a closed month changes
Closing a month signs it off. It doesn't freeze it. A late bill, an edit to an order, a backdated stock adjustment or a correction still lands in the month on its true date. SKU.io then compares the month with what you signed, shows you exactly what moved and why, and asks you to sign it off again when the change is big enough to matter. This page explains how that works. To act on it, see Re-sign-off a restated month.
Only the hard close date freezes the books. A month that ends on or before it is Hard-locked: nothing posts there, so it never restates. See How the hard close date works.
What a sign-off saves
When you close a month, SKU.io saves its Report pack as the month's numbers of record. The pack holds nine reports:
Income Statement · Balance Sheet · Trial Balance · Inventory Valuation · COGS · GINR Balance · Reconciliation Summary · Trial Balance Reconciliation · Sync Category Reconciliation
That saved pack is revision 1. Every later sign-off saves a new revision and keeps the earlier ones, so you can always read what a month said at each sign-off. In the month's Report pack, the chip reads Signed off and the date, and each card reads As at and the month end, for example As at Mar 31, 2026.
How SKU.io notices a change
SKU.io compares every closed month with its latest signed revision in two ways:
- Every night. Each closed month that isn't hard-locked is compared, figure by figure, with the pack it was last signed on. Comparison is to the cent.
- When you click Re-check on a closed month. In the month drawer of a Closed or Closed – restated month, Re-check does the same comparison straight away. Its tooltip reads Compare every report with the live books again. A re-check covers every closed month, not only the one you have open, so if one is already running SKU.io answers A re-check is already running. It covers every closed month, so wait for it to finish. If a close or re-sign-off is running, the re-check stops in the job tray with A close or re-sign-off is running. Try the re-check again when it finishes. Wait for that job in the job tray, then click Re-check again. A hard-locked month can't be re-checked, because it can't have changed.
Each run records what it finds in the month's History: Restatement detected, Restatement updated or Restatement cleared: the difference went back to zero, each with the net income change.
Own change and carried change
A change in one month moves the closing balances of every later month too. SKU.io splits each difference in two, so only the month that actually changed asks for your attention:
- Own change is caused by entries dated in this month: the change in this month's closing balance minus the change already present in the month before.
- Carried change came from an earlier month being restated. It needs no sign-off in the later month.
That's for balance reports such as the Balance Sheet and Trial Balance. Reports that measure the month's own activity, such as the Income Statement, count their whole change as the month's own.
Say you add a $1,284.16 freight bill dated March 15 after March, April and May are signed off. March has an own change of $1,284.16. April and May have no own change, but their payables and equity balances are $1,284.16 different, carried from March.
The three reconciliation reports, Reconciliation Summary, Trial Balance Reconciliation and Sync Category Reconciliation, are informational. Reconciliation work carries on after a sign-off, so they're expected to move. They are shown, but they never make a month restated.
What each month becomes
| What changed | What you see | What you need to do |
|---|---|---|
| The month's own change is over your review threshold | The month reads Closed – restated | Re-sign-off the month |
| The month's own change is at or under your review threshold | The month stays Closed and its drawer shows the change, with This change is under your review threshold, so no sign-off is needed. | Nothing |
| Only carried change: an earlier month changed | The month stays Closed with a Balance moved tag | Nothing. The tag clears when the earlier month is re-signed. |
| A change that later reverses, so the difference goes back to zero | The month returns to Closed on its own | Nothing |
| A report can't be compared with what was signed | Can't compare | Open the month and check that report yourself |
The review threshold
The threshold lives on Accounting → Settings → Close, under Restatement review, as Review threshold. A month asks for a re-sign-off when its own changes add up to more than this amount, or its net income moves by more than this amount. Changes carried in from earlier months don't count. At 0, any change asks for a re-sign-off. Every change is recorded either way. See Close settings and custom checklist items.
Balance moved
A month tagged Balance moved didn't change itself. Its drawer says so: Balance moved by $2,568.32 gross, carried from March 2026, then Nothing dated in April 2026 changed, so this month isn't restated and needs no sign-off. Its closing balances differ because an earlier month changed. The month name is a link to the month the change came from.
When that earlier month is re-signed, SKU.io refreshes the later month's saved balances on its own. Its History shows Revision 2: balances refreshed, no sign-off, and the Balance moved tag clears.
Can't compare
When a report can't be checked against what was signed, because the saved report is missing, couldn't be built, or comes from an older report layout, SKU.io doesn't treat the month as matching. The drawer shows Can't compare and the report's name, then explains that until the report can be compared, the month can't be shown as matching its sign-off, and it can't be hard-locked. Open the report from the Report pack and check its figures yourself.
Where you see a change
On the Close tab
- The Awaiting re-sign-off tile in the top row counts the months that need a re-sign-off and names them. Click it to open the month. Net restated beside it totals their net income change.
- On the Year board, a restated month's tile reads Closed – restated, then Change since sign-off with the amount, for example −$1,284.16, and how many accounts changed. A month tagged Balance moved shows the amount carried in, for example $2,568.32 carried in. Hover a tile for a sentence explaining it.
- The Changes since sign-off card lists every month that has a restatement, a carried balance or a report that can't be compared.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Month | The month, as a link that opens it |
| State | Closed – restated, Balance moved, Can't compare or Closed |
| Net income change | How much the month's net income moved since sign-off, from entries dated in it. Hover the figure for the gross change. |
| Carried in (gross) | Gross change carried in from an earlier month |
| (last column) | Needs sign-off, Open the month or No action |
When nothing has moved, the card reads Every signed-off month still matches its report pack. Before your first close it reads Nothing has been signed off yet.
In the month drawer
Click a month's tile on the Year board, or its name in Changes since sign-off, to open its drawer. A change leads the drawer, above the sign-off banner.
The three tiles at the top:
| Tile | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Net income change | How much net income moved, with its sign |
| Accounts changed | How many accounts have an own change, and their gross total, for example $2,568.32 gross. Gross adds up every account's own change, so a reclass that nets to zero still shows. |
| Reaching and your provider's name | Nothing held back and All changes can sync when every changed entry can reach Xero or QuickBooks. When some can't, it reads Can't reach and your provider, with the count. |
Under the tiles, a line says when the change was found and who last signed the month off, for example Found Nov 6, 2026. Last signed off by Alex Morgan on Nov 6, 2026. The month stays Closed until you sign it off again.
Then three sections:
- Changes by account lists each account that moved, with Last signed off, Live now, Own change and Carried. The footer totals the accounts and the gross own and carried change. Debits are positive and credits are negative. Each account name opens that account. On a Balance moved month this section is called Balances that moved.
- Changes by report lists each figure that moved in the six authoritative reports, with Figure, Last signed off, Live now and Difference. A report where nothing moved reads No figure moved and No change. A report that can't be compared reads Can't compare: the report is unavailable or its layout changed. This isn't a clean result. Below them, under Informational. These never trigger a restatement., each reconciliation report reads Changed or No change. Click a report name to open it.
- Why it changed lists the documents whose entries changed after the sign-off, with Document, Entries and Last changed. Each document name opens it. This list is best effort: a deleted entry leaves no row here, so the account changes above are the record.
In the Report pack, each card of a restated month carries a mark: the amount that moved, Moved for a carried change, Can't compare, or Info for a reconciliation report. See Read the month's reports.
By email and in the app
When a detection run finds months that newly need a re-sign-off, SKU.io sends one email for the whole run. The subject starts ACTION NEEDED: and reads A closed month no longer matches what was signed off. (or the number of months, when there are several). It lists each month with its net income change and gross change, and an Open the month-end close button opens the first one.
The same run raises the Closed Accounting Month Restated alert, a Financial alert headed A closed month changed after sign-off. It resolves itself once no month needs a re-sign-off.
Both go to the people in Who gets notified, under Restatement review on Accounting → Settings → Close. With nobody chosen, they go to your administrators. To change who sees the alert in the app, see Choose which alerts your team gets.
Changes and your accounting provider
A change dated in a closed month syncs to Xero or QuickBooks like any other entry. Two kinds can't get through:
- Entries on paid documents. Your provider won't let SKU.io change a document that has a payment against it. Remove the payment in your provider, let SKU.io update the document, then reconcile the payment again.
- Entries dated on or before your provider's own lock date. Lower that lock to let them through.
When either applies, the drawer shows a warning, for example 2 entries can't reach Xero, with what to do and a See the entries link to the outbox. Signing the month off again doesn't change this, so the warning stays after a re-sign-off until the entries go through. To keep your provider's lock where it can't block these changes, see Keep your provider's lock aligned.
Edits that change what inventory was worth
Correcting the cost of stock, for example on a bill whose goods were received in a signed-off month, changes what that inventory was worth on every day it sat on the shelf. In a Closed month that's an ordinary change: it lands on its true date, the month restates, and later months show Balance moved.
In a Hard-locked month the value can't change, so SKU.io keeps the locked value, measures the difference and carries it forward to the first day after the hard close date. The Locked Accounting Period Changed alert (headed A locked accounting period changed), the carry-forward and Book locked-period carry-forwards all apply only to hard-locked months. See How the hard close date works and Reconcile inventory to your accounting provider.
Revisions and History
Every sign-off keeps its own report pack, so a restatement never overwrites what you signed:
- The Sign-off revision picker at the top of the Report pack lists every revision, for example Revision 1: Close, Mar 4, 2026 and Revision 2: Re-sign-off, Nov 6, 2026. On a restated month it also offers Live books, the figures a re-sign-off would save.
- The History section at the bottom of the drawer lists every event: Close started, Took over preparing this month, Closed and signed off, each restatement, Re-signed after a change of and the amount, and Reopened. Each saved revision has an Open revision link that opens its pack.
Moves of the hard close date aren't month events: they're listed in the History table on the Hard close date card in Accounting → Settings → Close.
When a month is reopened, the pack from its last sign-off is kept but marked stale, and every report card reads Superseded until the month is closed again. See Reopen a closed month.
Next steps
- Re-sign-off a restated month: review the change and sign the month off again.
- Verify a closed month: compare a closed month's headline figures with its latest sign-off on demand.
- Move the hard close date: freeze months once they're signed off for good.
- What closing does to your books: soft close and the hard close date side by side.
- Statuses in the close: every state, tag and history event.