# Monitor the state of your AWS accounts
<a name="orgs_manage_accounts_account_state"></a>

AWS Organizations provides a way to quickly assess the health and operational status of all accounts in your organization. You can view this information using the **State** column within the AWS Organizations console or programmatically through AWS Organizations APIs. This enables you to track where each AWS account is in its life cycle, from creation through closure.

Continuous tracking of account state provides the following benefits:
+ Quickly identify accounts that require attention or action
+ Streamline your account management processes
+ Make informed decisions about resource allocation and access control
+ Maintain better overall security and compliance across your organization

The table below describes the five possible account states and their implications for your AWS accounts:


**Account states**  

| State | Description | 
| --- | --- | 
| PENDING ACTIVATION |  In this state, the account is unusable because the account sign-up process was initiated but never completed. The account holder must complete the remaining sign-up steps, such as providing phone verification or payment information. After completing these steps, the account transitions to the ACTIVE state.   | 
| ACTIVE |  This state indicates that the account is fully operational and available. Users can access AWS services and resources normally according to the account's permissions and organization policies. Regular AWS activities such as launching resources, managing services, and incurring charges can occur in this state.  | 
| SUSPENDED |  In this state, the account is unusable because AWS has restricted access. The account holder can still view billing information and contact Support, who can explain why the account is suspended.  | 
| PENDING CLOSURE |  This temporary state indicates an active request to close the account, but the closure process is not yet complete. The account remains functional and can still be used to access AWS services while the closure request is processed. After AWS processes the closure request, the account transitions to the CLOSED state.  | 
| CLOSED |  This state indicates that the account was closed at the request of the account holder or by AWS and is displayed next to the account name in the AWS Organizations console for 90 days after closure is initiated. During this period, you cannot access AWS services, but you can contact Support to reinstate the account or recover important data. After the 90-day post-closure period has elapsed, the account is permanently closed and will no longer be displayed in the AWS Organizations console.  | 

## View the state of an AWS account
<a name="view_account_state"></a>

You can view the account state information by using either the AWS Organizations console or programmatically using the `DescribeAccount`, `ListAccounts`, and `ListAccountsForParent` APIs.

**Important**  
The account `Status` parameter in AWS Organizations will be retired on September 9, 2026. Although both the account `State` and account `Status` parameters are currently available in the AWS Organizations APIs (`DescribeAccount`, `ListAccounts`, `ListAccountsForParent`), we recommend that you update your scripts or other code to use the `State` parameter instead of `Status` before September 9, 2026.

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#### [ AWS Management Console ]<a name="view_account_state_procedure"></a>

**To view the state of an AWS account**

1. Sign in to the [AWS Organizations console](https://console.aws.amazon.com/organizations/v2). You must sign in as an IAM user, assume an IAM role, or sign in as the root user ([not recommended](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/best-practices.html#lock-away-credentials)) in the organization’s management account.

1. Navigate to the **[AWS accounts](https://console.aws.amazon.com/organizations/v2/home/accounts)** page and notice the value in the **State** column next to the member account you want to examine. If the account that you want to see is a child of an OU, you might have to choose the triangle icon ![\[alt text not found\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/organizations/latest/userguide/images/console-expand.png)next to an OU to expand it and see its children. Repeat until you find the account.
**Note**  
You can also view the value of the **State** field from the **Account details** page in the AWS Organizations console.

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#### [ AWS CLI & AWS SDKs ]

**To view the state of an AWS account**  
You can use the following commands to view an account's state:

**Note**  
To view account state values in API responses, use AWS CLI version 2.29.0 or later, or an SDK version released after September 9, 2025. We recommend using the latest AWS CLI or SDK version as a best practice. For more information, see [AWS SDKs and Tools version lifecycle](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/sdkref/latest/guide/version-support-matrix.html) in the *AWS SDKs and Tools Reference Guide*.
+ AWS CLI:
  +  [list-accounts](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/organizations/list-accounts.html) – lists the details of *all* accounts in the organization
  +  [list-accounts-for-parent](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/organizations/list-accounts-for-parent.html) – lists the details of *all* accounts in the organization that are contained by the specified target root or organizational unit (OU)
  +  [describe-account](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/organizations/describe-account.html) – lists the details of only the specified account

  These commands return the same details for each account included in the response.

  The following example shows how to retrieve the details about a specified account including its `State` value.

  ```
  $ aws organizations describe-account --account-id 123456789012
  
  {
      "Account": {
          "Id": "123456789012",
          "Arn": "arn:aws:organizations::123456789012:account/o-aa111bb222/123456789012",
          "Email": "admin@example.com",
          "Name": "Example.com Organization's Management Account",
          "State": "CLOSED",
          "Status": "SUSPENDED",
          "JoinedMethod": "INVITED",
          "JoinedTimestamp": "2020-11-20T09:04:20.346000-08:00",
          "Paths": [
              "o-aa111bb222/r-a1b2/123456789012/"
          ]
      }
  }
  ```
+ AWS SDKs:
  + [ListAccounts](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/organizations/latest/APIReference/API_ListAccounts.html)
  + [ListAccountsForParent](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/organizations/latest/APIReference/API_ListAccountsForParent.html)
  + [DescribeAccount](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/organizations/latest/APIReference/PI_DescribeAccount.html)

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