Technology from banks has made bookkeeping simpler, but those who deal with financial records understand that it’s not perfect. Clients are still sending PDF statements, bank feeds may not work and historical transactions aren’t available. In the end, someone must change a PDF document that was meant for reading into a document that accounting software actually utilizes.

Image credit: docubrew.com
A bank statement converter can reduce the amount of repetitive work required. Docubrew converts bank statement information into spreadsheet-ready information instead of manually entering description, date withdrawals, and deposits row-by-line.
When a PDF becomes the missing piece
Imagine a bookkeeper creating the year-end reconciling for a new customer. The accounting system shows the most the most recent transactions, however a few older months have been left out. Fortunately that the client downloaded the original PDF reports.
In the past, rewriting the previous months can take hours of copying figures into a spreadsheet. The bank statement PDF to Excel workflow is an effective alternative. Docubrew can extract transaction information from digital PDFs, as well as scan paper bank statements.
For professionals who regularly need to move a bank statement to Excel, reducing manual transcription also removes an unnecessary opportunity for typing errors.
Save the Pages that Actually are Counting
Bank statements are not only of transactions. A 12-page statement could include an account cover page, a cover page summary and disclosures or notifications and a few pages of transactions at the bank.
Docubrew allows users to view a document in a preview and choose the relevant pages to convert. This allows users to convert bank statements to Excel without having to include irrelevant data.
Once the file has been processed and opened, it is able to be opened using Excel or integrated into accounting platforms such as QuickBooks, Xero, FreshBooks and more.
CSV Offers a Flexible Accounting Workflow
CSV is still popular due to the fact that spreadsheets as well as databases and accounting software allow CSV because they are compatible with spreadsheets, databases and accounting software. Docubrew can convert bank statements to CSV according to the table of transactions.
The same workflow can be used to transform bank statements to CSV for a variety of reasons, including rewriting historical books, taking on a project to clean up unutilized client data, looking into gaps in transactions, or preparing the information to be used in reconciliation.
Accounting firms that must handle many clients or statements can benefit from batch processing.
Financial Documents should be analyzed for privacy protections
When processing financial records it isn’t the only consideration. Bank statements could contain sensitive client data accounting professionals and bookkeepers could also consider the place where they process.
Docubrew provides two approaches. Its Windows desktop application handles documents locally on the computer of the user thus the files aren’t transferred to the cloud for conversion. Cloud encryption is accessible to those who prefer working in a browser. Files uploaded to the cloud are deleted automatically within 24 hours.
The platform can be anything from Excel software to bank statements which rely solely on remote processing.
Turning Document Archives Back Into Working Data
The PDF statement is an excellent record, but it’s a hassle should you need to sort, reconcile or filter transactions elsewhere. Scanned documents add another complication as the transaction data might only exist in the form of an image.
Docubrew is a powerful program which combines OCR and statement parsing to transform the documents that were scanned into useful financial information. This provides accountants, bookkeepers, and business owners a way to transform archival financial records into usable transactional data.
The result is an easy improvement to an otherwise tedious workflow: keep the bank statement as the primary financial record, while transforming its transaction table into data you are able to use.