Xero App Store: close-integrity tools, compared

Written by an ACA-qualified finance manager · about the author · Last reviewed 1 July 2026

The Xero App Store has plenty of tools that touch month-end. Very few actually watch what happens to a period after you’ve signed it off. Here’s how to tell the difference before you commit to one.

"Close integrity" isn’t the same as "close automation"

Search the Xero App Store for month-end help and you’ll find several different categories wearing similar marketing copy. Close automation tools generate journals for you - accruals, prepayments, revenue recognition. Data-health tools score how clean your bookkeeping is. Consolidation tools roll multiple entities into one set of numbers. Close integrity is a narrower, different question: once you’ve signed off a period, does anything watch it - and tell you if it changes? Most tools in the first three categories don’t do this at all; it isn’t their job.

What to actually check before you commit

• Does it snapshot at sign-off? If a tool doesn’t record what your balances looked like the moment you locked the period, it has nothing to compare against later - it can’t tell you anything moved.
• Does it re-check automatically? A tool you have to remember to open and compare by hand is a checklist, not a watchdog. Look for scheduled, automatic re-checks.
• Does it name who and what? "Something changed" is barely more useful than nothing. You want the document, the person who posted it, and the date - straight from Xero’s own history.
• Is it read-only? Ask directly what Xero scopes it requests. A tool that can also post, edit or delete is a bigger trust decision than one that can only ever read.
• Does it export a real working-paper file? Auditors and accountants live in files. A tool that traps your reconciliations inside its own dashboard is a harder sell at year-end.

The landscape, briefly

Mayday’s Balancer does intercompany reconciliation for multi-entity groups - a different problem to sign-off integrity (see Postlock vs Mayday). ScaleXP and Numeric both automate more of the close itself (journals, consolidation, workflow) but neither watches a closed period for post-sign-off change (vs ScaleXP, vs Numeric). Easy Month End is a lightweight, budget checklist tool (vs Easy Month End). Dext Precision monitors data quality across a practice’s client book - genuinely useful, but a different question from "did a number I already reported change?" (vs Dext Precision). See the full comparison hub for the feature-by-feature matrix.

How to actually decide

Feature lists only tell you so much - the useful test is running a tool against your own numbers. That’s the whole idea behind a free closed-months check: connect Xero read-only and see, in 90 seconds, whether close drift has already happened in your own closed months. It costs nothing to find out, and the answer tells you more than any feature comparison can.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the difference between close automation and close integrity?

Close automation tools help you get to sign-off faster - generating journals, automating recognition. Close integrity tools watch what happens after sign-off, telling you if a signed-off number changes. Most Xero App Store tools do the former; very few do the latter.

Does a data-health tool like Dext Precision do the same job?

No: data-health tools score how clean your bookkeeping is (unreconciled transactions, duplicate contacts, wrong VAT codes). That’s a data-quality question. Close integrity asks a different question: has a number you already signed off and reported since changed?

How do I evaluate a close-integrity tool before committing?

Check whether it snapshots at sign-off, re-checks automatically on a schedule, names the document and person behind any change, stays strictly read-only, and exports a real file rather than trapping your work in a dashboard. Then run it against your own numbers - a free trial or report tells you more than any spec sheet.