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Bank statements, into spreadsheets
Practical guides to getting statements into Excel, CSV and accounting software, and to checking the numbers once they are there.
Convert a credit card statement to Excel without flipping the signs
Why credit card purchases come out as money in when you convert a statement, how to flip them in Excel or Google Sheets, and how to check they are the right way round.
· 4 min read
Turn your bank statements into a monthly budget spreadsheet
A budget from the statements you already have, without connecting an app to your bank: categories, a month column and a pivot table, step by step.
· 5 min read
Combine several months of bank statements into one spreadsheet
Three ways to put a year of statements into one table, in Excel or Google Sheets, and the checks that make sure nothing went missing at the joins.
· 5 min read
How to categorize bank transactions in Excel or Google Sheets
Use a formula to suggest categories from messy bank descriptions, fix the rest by hand, and total spending by category with SUMIFS or a pivot table.
· 5 min read
How to reconcile a bank statement in Excel (with a free template)
Prove your transactions add up to the statement, find the exact row when they don’t, and download a free Excel template that does the arithmetic.
· 5 min read
Bank CSV shows garbled characters in Excel: how to fix it
Why a bank CSV shows £ or é in Excel, and how to import it with the right encoding in Excel for Windows, Excel for Mac and Google Sheets.
· 4 min read
Excel shows bank statement dates as text: how to fix it
Why bank statement dates come into Excel as text or the wrong way round, and how to fix them with Text to Columns, in Excel and Google Sheets.
· 4 min read
Duplicate transactions after a bank import: why it happens and how to clean up
Why bank imports create duplicates in QuickBooks and Xero, how to remove them in each, and how to stop it happening on the next import.
· 5 min read
What is an OFX file, and how do you open it?
OFX is the format banks use for transaction downloads. What’s inside one, how it differs from QFX and QBO, which software opens it, and how to read one yourself.
· 4 min read
What is a QBO file? (and how to open one)
A QBO file is a bank download made for QuickBooks Web Connect. What’s inside, which versions of QuickBooks open it, and how to view or convert one without QuickBooks.
· 4 min read
Getting bank transactions into QuickBooks Desktop without a .QBO file
QuickBooks Desktop’s Web Connect only reads .QBO files. What to do when your bank gives you a CSV, OFX or PDF instead, including Batch Enter Transactions.
· 5 min read
How to convert an OFX or QFX file to CSV or Excel
Excel can’t read an OFX or QFX file as a table. How to turn one into a clean CSV in your browser, and what to check before you use it.
· 4 min read
Xero bank statement import failed? Fixes for CSV and OFX errors
Why Xero flags or rejects a bank statement import, how to fix a CSV it won’t take, what to do when only some lines import, and how to avoid duplicates.
· 5 min read
QuickBooks Online CSV import errors: what each one means and how to fix it
The reasons QuickBooks Online rejects a bank CSV, from column mapping and currency formatting to dates, special characters and money-out-only files, and the fix for each.
· 5 min read
Bank file won’t import into QuickBooks? Fixes for QBO, QFX and OFX errors
What QuickBooks’ import errors mean, how to find the problem inside a .QBO, .QFX or .OFX file, and how to fix it or get the transactions in another way.
· 6 min read
Catching up a new client’s bank statements without missing a transaction
A routine for catch-up bookkeeping from PDF statements: collect the right files, check the months join up, reconcile each one, and avoid duplicates with the bank feed.
· 6 min read
How to import a bank CSV into QuickBooks Online
What QuickBooks Online expects from a bank CSV, why most bank exports don’t fit, how to fix one in Excel, and a free tool that does it for you.
· 6 min read
Is it safe to upload bank statements to an online converter?
What a bank statement gives away, the questions to ask any converter before you use it, and how to check for yourself whether your file is being uploaded.
· 6 min read
Why your bank statement spreadsheet doesn’t balance
If your converted statement is off, the size of the gap hints at the cause, and a one-column formula finds the row where it went wrong.
· 6 min read
How to convert a PDF bank statement to Excel
Four ways to get a PDF bank statement into Excel, what goes wrong with each, and how to check that no transactions went missing along the way.
· 7 min read