The banking technology has greatly automated bookkeeping. However, anyone who deals with financial records should be aware that automation doesn’t always perform as expected. Clients continue to send PDF statements, bank feeds may not be working or historical transactions aren’t available. It is then necessary to transform a PDF document meant to be read into a format that accounting software actually uses.

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The use of a bank statement converter can cut down on the quantity of repetitive work that is required. Docubrew converts bank statements into spreadsheet-ready data instead of manually entering date, description deposits, withdrawals row by line.
When a PDF is the missing piece
Imagine a bookkeeper who is creating the year-end reconciling for a new customer. The accounting system has recently completed transactions but some months are not present. Fortunately clients have downloaded the original PDF statements.
In the past, rewriting the previous months can take the time of copying figures onto the spreadsheet. A bank statement in PDF format to Excel workflow offers a better option. Docubrew accepts digital PDFs and printed paper statements that are scanned and then extracts the information about transactions to be used in spreadsheets.
Professionals who frequently require moving statements from banks to Excel and reduce manual transcription can also eliminate the potential for typing mistakes.
Keep the Pages That Actually Matter
Bank statements aren’t composed entirely of transactions. A 12-page report could include a summary of the account as well as disclosures and other notices, as well as a number of pages detailing the actual banking transactions.
Docubrew lets users look at the document before they open it, and pick the relevant pages before conversion. It is much easier to convert bank statement accounts to Excel because the contents that are not related to the bank account of the account statement are not included in your data set.
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 many more.
CSV Allows for Flexible Accounting Workflow
CSV is still in use because it is widely used by spreadsheets, databases and accounting programs. Docubrew can convert a bank statement into CSV according to its transaction table.
The same workflow is used to convert bank statements to CSV for a variety of reasons, including rewriting historical books, taking on projects to clear unused client data, investigating missing transactions or preparing the data for reconciliation.
Accounting firms who need to handle multiple client statements or clients simultaneously can benefit from batch processing.
Financial Documents Need Considerate Privacy Controls
Convenience isn’t the only consideration when it comes to processing financial records. Bank statements could contain sensitive client data Bookkeepers and accountants could also consider the place where they process.
Docubrew has two ways to do this. Windows desktop application converts files locally, on the user’s computer. Users who prefer workflows using browsers are able to select the encrypted cloud option, in which uploaded files are deleted automatically within 24 hours.
That choice distinguishes the platform from bank statement to Excel software that depends exclusively on remote processing.
Turning Document Archives Back Into Working Data
While PDF statements can be excellent documents, they’re not ideal to use when transactions need to be reconciled or sorted. Also, they aren’t able to be imported, filtered, re-organized or re-organized. Scanned files add an additional problem, since the information about transactions is usually only accessible in images.
Docubrew is an effective program that uses OCR and statement parsing to transform scanned documents into usable financial data. This gives accountants, bookkeepers, and business owners the opportunity to convert archival financial documents into valuable transactional data.
The result is a change of a procedure that was previously tedious as the bank statement continues as the financial record it was originally but the transaction table transforms into data that you can use.