Convert PDF bank statements for QuickBooks Online

Which QuickBooks format to choose

• 3 columns: Date, Description, Amount. Money in is positive and money out negative. The simplest choice for most accounts.
• 4 columns: Date, Description, Credit, Debit. Laid out as in QuickBooks’ UK help, with payments in Credit and deposits in Debit, which is the opposite of what many people expect. Check the preview in QuickBooks before you accept the upload.
• QBO (Web Connect): an OFX file with your bank’s Intuit details. Choose it only if you know your bank’s Intuit bank ID, FID and organisation; they’re never guessed.

Upload limits are handled for you

QuickBooks Online accepts CSV uploads of up to 1,000 lines and 350 KB. Longer statements are split into several CSV files that each fit, downloaded together as a ZIP. Zero amounts are left blank, as QuickBooks asks.

How to upload a converted statement to QuickBooks Online

1. 1Upload the PDF statements, up to 10 at a time and up to 50 pages each. If a file is password-protected you’ll be asked for the password; it’s used once and never stored.
2. 2Review each statement next to its transactions. The opening balance, every transaction and the closing balance have to add up; if they don’t, the rows to check are flagged.
3. 3Choose Export, then the QuickBooks CSV layout you want, and DD/MM/YYYY dates unless your company file uses another format.
4. 4In QuickBooks Online, go to Bank transactions, open the Link account menu and choose Upload from file.
5. 5Select the CSV and the account it belongs to, match the columns and the date format, then choose which transactions to add.

QuickBooks reads PDFs now. Why convert first?

QuickBooks Online can now read a PDF or a photo of a statement itself. Converting first is still worth it when you want each statement checked against its balances and reviewed line by line before anything is imported, or when the same file has to go into Excel or Xero as well.

If QuickBooks rejects a CSV because of characters in a description, you can edit the description in the review screen and export again.

Checked before it reaches the books

A dropped row or a misread minus sign doesn’t show up when you import a file. It shows up weeks later, when the account won’t reconcile. So before you export, the converter checks that the opening balance plus every transaction equals the closing balance printed on the statement, and flags the rows to look at when it doesn’t.

Every row is linked to the line on the PDF it came from, so you can click a transaction and see the original. On text PDFs, amounts are taken from the statement itself rather than retyped. Scanned pages can be converted too, but can’t be traced line by line.