Why you'd need it
Xero works best with live bank feeds. But feeds don't cover every situation. You may be starting a new Xero file with a year of history to load, filling a gap where a feed dropped out, or working with a client who only has PDF statements. Xero can import statement files manually, but not every bank offers a file for older months. StatementCheap fills that gap.
Two formats that work with Xero
Xero CSV
Xero's CSV import needs a transaction date and an amount, with money out shown as a negative number. Optional columns such as payee, description and reference make reconciling easier. Our Xero CSV has the columns *Date, *Amount, Payee, Description, Reference, with dates as DD/MM/YYYY, so mapping takes a few clicks. For the column details, read our Xero bank statement CSV format guide.
OFX
Xero also imports OFX files. Xero's help recommends OFX, QFX or QuickBooks files over CSV when your bank offers them, and they skip the column mapping step. We export OFX too. See QBO vs OFX vs QFX if you're weighing the options.
Step by step
- Download the statement PDF from online banking.
- Upload it on the converter and wait for the reconciliation result.
- Download Xero CSV or OFX.
- In Xero, go to Accounting > Bank accounts. Open the menu for the account and choose Import a Statement.
- Upload the file. For a CSV, map the columns when Xero asks. Xero remembers the mapping for files with the same headers.
- Review the transactions and complete the import.
Things that trip people up
- Balance columns. Xero works out the bank balance from the transactions, and its help says to remove opening and closing balance columns from CSV files. Our Xero CSV doesn't include them.
- Date formats. Our Xero CSV uses DD/MM/YYYY. Xero asks you to confirm the date format when it's unclear, so pick day/month/year and check a date like the 3rd of the month to be sure.
- Duplicates. Xero skips transactions it sees as duplicates of ones already imported. Even so, don't import dates your feed already covers.
- Signs. Spend must be negative and receive positive. On a credit card account, purchases are negative and payments positive. Our files follow that convention.
Check before you import
Every conversion is checked against the statement's own numbers: opening balance plus transactions should equal the closing balance. If it doesn't, we show the difference and the rows where the running balance breaks. That way you fix problems before they reach your Xero bank reconciliation, where they are much harder to find.
Built for people who do this often
Accountants and bookkeepers moving clients into Xero often have dozens of statements per client. Our plans are priced per page and kept low on purpose: Starter is $9 a month for 500 pages, and Pro is $19 a month for 2,000. Occasional users can buy a $6 pack of 150 pages that never expire, or use the 5 free pages every day. See pricing and how accountants use StatementCheap.
What we don't do
We don't connect to Xero or to your bank, and we don't code transactions to accounts. You download a file and import it, and Xero's bank rules and reconciliation take it from there.
Works with statements from any bank, including Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Capital One, Barclays and HSBC.