Statement of Changes in Equity — how owner value moved

Shows how each equity component moved during a period — opening balance, additions during the period (owner contributions, net income), reductions (dividends, distributions), and closing balance.

This is one of the four core IFRS financial statements. It's the bridge between the Balance Sheet's equity section and the P&L's net income — "where did this year's profit go?" The answer is: mostly into Retained Earnings.

Before you start

• You need Financial Statements permission (same access as Trial Balance, P&L, Balance Sheet).
• The report reads accounts marked with AccountType = "Equity" in your Chart of Accounts. A typical setup has Share Capital, Retained Earnings, and optionally one or more Reserves.
• The report auto-detects your Retained Earnings account by name (any account with "retained earning" in the name matches). Net income from the P&L gets folded into that row so closing equity ties to the Balance Sheet.

Steps

1. Open Reports → Statement of Changes in Equity.
2. Pick a From / To date. Defaults to start of year → today.
3. Read left-to-right per row:
   • Opening — the equity balance immediately before From.
   • Additions — everything that increased equity this period. Owner injections show as raw movement; net income is folded into Retained Earnings and marked with a "P&L bridge" tag.
   • Reductions — dividends, drawings, distributions.
   • Closing — what remains at To. This equals what the Balance Sheet shows for the same account on the same date.
4. Total equity at the bottom is the sum across all equity components — the same number that appears as "Total Equity" on the Balance Sheet.
5. Net income for the period is shown separately at the very bottom so you can see the P&L bridge without having to reconcile Retained Earnings by hand.
6. Export → Excel for auditors — this report is one of the four pieces of an IFRS-compliant statement set.

Tips

• Additions appear green, Reductions appear red — quick visual scan for period activity.
• If Retained Earnings doesn't move at all when you have net income, check your Chart of Accounts: no account with "retained earning" in the name means the fold-in couldn't find its target — the net income shows only in the bottom footer, not in a row.
• The report is empty when your Chart of Accounts has no Equity-typed accounts. Add Share Capital and Retained Earnings under Setup → Chart of Accounts before running it.
• Use From = start of your fiscal year for the standard "for the year ended" IFRS presentation.

Common problems

• Total equity closing doesn't match the Balance Sheet's Equity section — usually caused by an equity account being posted-to outside the equity account type (e.g. someone journalled to an account that's typed as Asset). Trial Balance and Ledger Diagnostics will help find the errant posting.
• Net income here doesn't match Profit & Loss — they should tie exactly for the same date range. If they don't, there's a Ledger row with a non-standard account type; check the account setup for any Revenue/Expense-natured accounts that aren't classified as Income / Expenses / Goods Sold Cost Acc.
• Retained Earnings has no P&L bridge marker — your Chart of Accounts doesn't include an account with "retained earning" in its name. Either rename an existing equity account or add one. In the meantime, the net income is still reported at the bottom.