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Close over outstanding inventory debt

Inventory debt settled is the only blocking close check you are allowed to close past. Every other blocking failure means the books are wrong; this one means they are provisional — the month's figures are right as far as they go, but the cost of sale on some units is still an estimate, and the correction lands in whichever period the stock finally arrives. That is a judgement finance is entitled to make, so SKU.io lets you make it, asks you to write down why, and keeps the answer.

Before you begin​

  • Try to clear the debt first. Closing over it is the exception, not the routine — see fix a failing check and the fixing steps below.
  • You need the accounting.period.override permission on top of your normal permission to close a period. Administrators pass this the same way they pass every other permission check. See permissions in the close.
  • The month must be In Review with Inventory debt settled the only blocking failure left. Any other red Blocking chip has to be resolved first — no permission waves those through.
  • Have your reason ready. It is recorded against the month and read later by someone who was not in the room.

Try to clear the debt first​

  1. On Accounting → Close, find the Inventory debt settled row under 2. Sync & reconciliation. Its summary reads, for example, 3 still owed · 409.75 in clearing — the count of claims still outstanding and the money sitting in the clearing account behind them.
  2. Click the arrow on the row. It opens Inventory → Fulfillment Debt Report, scoped to the month, so the count on the checklist row and the claims on the page are the same set.
  3. Read the three tiles above the claims. Inventory Debt Clearing repeats the exposure the checklist quotes and splits it into posted and relieved; Oldest claim gives the age of the longest-running one and how many have passed 30 days; Settled this month gives the units already repaid and the variance they sent to COGS.
  4. Work the Inventory Debt Claims table. Each claim carries its Order, SKU / Product, Warehouse, Source, Status, Outstanding quantity, Est. unit cost, Clearing amount, Age and the Reason the shipment was allowed. Leave the Status filter on Outstanding — those are the claims the check is counting. Settled and Cancelled are done with, and All statuses shows everything.
  5. Where stock has since arrived, tick the claims and click Settle from Stock.
  6. Where no receipt is ever coming — a receiving error, or stock that was on the shelf all along — tick the claims and click Create Catch-Up Stock Take. That raises a draft stock take for the outstanding units; finalize it and the claims repay from it automatically. Both buttons stay disabled until at least one claim is ticked.
  7. Return to Accounting → Close and click Re-check. If the row is now green, close the month normally — you do not need this guide's override.

For the accounting behind claims, estimates and the true-up variance, see inventory and the close.

Close over the debt​

  1. With Inventory debt settled the only blocking failure left, click Close period.
  2. In the Close June 2026 dialog, find the amber panel headed Inventory debt settled (3) — the check's title with the outstanding claim count in parentheses. It reads: "This normally blocks the close. You can close over it, but the reason is recorded against June 2026 along with the exposure as it stands."
  3. Type your reason in Why is this being closed over? Write it for the person who reads it in six months: what is outstanding, why the month can carry it, and who agreed. The field suggests the shape — "e.g. Supplier receipt lands on the 3rd — signed off by the CFO".
  4. Tick every acknowledgement below the panel, as you would on any close. The override covers the debt check only; warnings and unticked manual items still need their ticks.
  5. Add anything else worth recording in Close notes (optional). Notes are separate from the override reason and are not a substitute for it.
  6. Click Close June 2026. The month goes to Closing…, then Closed.

Why the confirm button stays disabled​

The button stays disabled until the reason exists. Hover it to see which condition is unmet:

  • Give a reason for closing over "Inventory debt settled" — it's recorded against this period.
  • Resolve the blocking failures first — a period can't close with blocking checks failing. — something other than debt is still blocking.
  • Tick every acknowledgement above to confirm you're closing with these items outstanding.

Whitespace is not a reason: a box containing only spaces counts as blank and the close is refused. The reason has a 2,000-character limit.

caution

A reason you type and then cancel is discarded. Closing the dialog clears the box, the ticks and the notes, so reopening it starts from empty. This is deliberate — the reason is signed-for text that lands in the record, and text typed for an attempt you abandoned must never be filed against a later one. Retype it.

What gets recorded​

The override is not merely permitted, it is written down. Recorded against the month at the moment the close commits:

  • The reason, exactly as you typed it.
  • Who closed the month.
  • How many debt claims were still owed, and the clearing balance those claims represented.

Two details matter if anyone ever audits the month:

  • The exposure is measured fresh at close time. SKU.io does not copy the numbers from the checklist row you were looking at — that row may be minutes or hours old. It recounts the outstanding claims as the close commits, so the record says what was true when you signed, not what the screen last said. Nor is it derived afterward: a claim settled next week would otherwise rewrite what you appear to have signed off.
  • It is written inside the close itself. If the close then fails and the month returns to In Review, the record goes with it. There is never a recorded override for a close that did not happen.
note

There is no screen for reviewing past overrides today. Once a month is closed over, the reason and the exposure are held with that month, but SKU.io does not yet surface them anywhere you can browse. Keep your own note of a month you closed over — in Close notes, which you can read back on the closed month, or outside SKU.io — until a review surface exists.

What the override does not do​

  • It does not settle anything. The claims are still outstanding, the clearing balance is still there, and the true-up still posts to a later period when the stock arrives. You have signed off a provisional cost of sale, not corrected it.
  • It does not carry to next month. Debt still outstanding when the next close comes around fails Inventory debt settled again and needs its own reason.
  • It does not extend to any other check. Supplying a reason for a check that is not overridable has no effect at all — that check still blocks the close, and the close is still refused. All entries balanced is the clearest case: unbalanced entries mean the books are wrong, and no authority closes over wrong.

Closing over the debt check without the permission​

If you do not hold accounting.period.override, the amber panel appears but carries no reason box. Instead it explains the position:

This normally blocks the close. You don't have the accounting.period.override permission, so it has to be resolved before June 2026 can close — or ask someone who holds it to close the month.

Hovering the disabled confirm button says "Inventory debt settled" blocks the close, and you don't have permission to close over it. You have two routes: clear the debt using the steps above, or hand the close to someone who holds the permission. Administrators hold it implicitly, as they do every other permission.

When debt is set to warn instead of block​

Whether outstanding debt blocks the close is a setting, on by default and described in close settings and custom checklist items.

Turned off, Inventory debt settled becomes an ordinary warning — no Blocking chip, no amber panel, no permission, no reason. It still states the exposure on the checklist row, and you still have to tick it in the close dialog, where it is stamped Acknowledged at close on the closed month. That is a weaker record than the override: an acknowledgement says you saw it, the override says why you accepted it. Leaving the block on is the stronger control, which is why it ships on.

Debt never blocks a shipment in either setting. Goods go out and SKU.io records what they cost; the pressure lands here, at the close, where a provisional number is worth something.

Next steps​

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