This disclosure has reference to verifying records of system change events in a distributed network system providing cloud services. In one embodiment, the methods and systems observe system update messages sent and received among components of the distributed network system, generate a record of the state of the object in response to the update messages, and compare the record of the state of the object with information from a periodic system status message to verify the accuracy of the periodic system status message. Advantageously, the present embodiments provide increased reliability for system status tracking, resource management, and billing for consumption of resources in distributed network systems. Additional benefits and advantages of the present embodiments will become evident in the following description.