Bank statement CSV format
A good bank statement CSV is boring on purpose: one header row, one row per transaction, ISO dates and plain decimal amounts. Here is the exact layout we produce, a template you can download, and fixes for the problems people run into when they open a CSV in Excel.
Column order
| Column | Example | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Date | 2026-08-03 | YYYY-MM-DD |
| Description | Office supplies | Text; quoted if it contains the delimiter |
| Money out | 84.60 | Positive decimal, empty if not an outflow |
| Money in | Positive decimal, empty if not an inflow | |
| Balance | 3615.40 | As printed; empty if the bank shows none |
| Source page | 1 | Optional |
Example bank statement CSV
Date,Description,Money out,Money in,Balance,Source page 2026-08-02,Client payment,,1200.00,3700.00,1 2026-08-03,Office supplies,84.60,,3615.40,1 2026-08-05,Software subscription,29.00,,3586.40,1
Single signed amount (for QuickBooks and Xero)
Accounting software usually wants one Amount column: money in positive, money out negative, for example -84.60. Choose Amount in the export options and turn off Balance and Source page to get Date, Description, Amount only.
Date,Description,Amount 2026-08-02,Client payment,1200.00 2026-08-03,Office supplies,-84.60
When Excel shows the CSV wrong
| What you see | Why | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Everything is in one column | Your region uses the comma as a decimal separator, so Excel expects semicolons | Export with the semicolon delimiter, or use Data › From Text/CSV and pick Comma. |
| Accents look like é | The file was opened or re-saved without UTF-8 | Open the original download, or import with File origin set to UTF-8. |
| Dates show as ##### or as numbers | The column is too narrow, or Excel converted the dates | Widen the column, or set its format to yyyy-mm-dd. |
| Some descriptions start with an apostrophe | Text starting with =, +, - or @ is protected so Excel doesn't run it as a formula | Leave it; the apostrophe isn't part of the value. |
Delimiter and encoding
- UTF-8 with a byte-order mark, so Excel shows accents correctly.
- Comma by default; semicolon for regions where the comma is the decimal separator.
- CRLF line endings for the widest compatibility.
Mistakes that break imports
- Dates like 03/08/2026 that software reads as March instead of August.
- Currency symbols or thousands separators inside amounts.
- Total or balance rows mixed in with transactions.
- Title lines above the header row.
Try it with your own statement
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