Changing Income Account on Items

What is the best way to change the Income Account on an Item record (Service, Inventory, Other Charge, etc)? If the item has been used in closed periods, it won't allow the change based on the error message on save.

Netsuite recommends creating a new item and with the new income account and inactivating the old item. Easier said than done since there are open transactions, BOMs, and a huge list of "touchpoints". It just seems like there should be an easier way.