Review / checklist
How accurate are bank statement converters? How to check a converted statement
No converter gets every statement right, and an advertised accuracy figure tells you little about your own bank’s PDFs. A closing balance that matches is a useful check but not proof that every row is right: two errors can cancel each other out, and a wrong date or description does not change the balance at all. Check page coverage, totals, signs, dates and the running balance against the original PDF before you use the data.
A worked example
Symptoms, likely causes and the check that finds them
| Symptom | Likely cause | How to check |
|---|---|---|
| The closing balance is off by the amount of one transaction | A row was missed or counted twice | Find the first row where the calculated and printed balances differ, then compare that stretch of the PDF with the rows. |
| The closing balance is off by twice one transaction | A reversed sign: money out read as money in, or the other way round | Halve the difference, search for that amount and check which column it sits in on the PDF. |
| The difference divides evenly by 9 | Two digits swapped, such as 54.00 read as 45.00 | Compare the amounts near the first difference with the PDF digit by digit. |
| The difference equals a balance printed on the page | A balance brought forward line or a page subtotal read as a transaction | Check the first and last rows of each page for amounts that match a printed balance. |
| Fewer rows than the PDF, or no rows from one page | A page missing from the file, or a page the converter skipped | Check the page numbering, such as page 3 of 4, and count the rows on each page. |
| Rows with text but no amount | A wrapped description read as a separate row | Merge the text into the row above it after checking the PDF. |
| Dates in the wrong month or year | Dates printed without a year, or day and month swapped | Check rows around a change of year and any date with a day of 12 or lower. |
| Everything balances, but a row still looks wrong | An error a balance cannot see: a date, a description, or two errors that cancel out | Spot-check rows against the page, especially near page breaks. |
Fictional example · a running-balance check finds a missing row
| Date | Description | Amount | Printed balance | Calculated balance | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 1 | Opening balance | 1,000.00 | 1,000.00 | ||
| Sep 2 | Coffee shop | −4.50 | 995.50 | 995.50 | 0.00 |
| Sep 3 | Payroll deposit | 1,200.00 | 2,195.50 | 2,195.50 | 0.00 |
| Sep 5 | Rent | −850.00 | 1,283.10 | 1,345.50 | 62.40 |
| Sep 8 | Transfer in | 300.00 | 1,583.10 | 1,645.50 | 62.40 |
Work through the checklist.
Use these checks while you review. Marks stay on this page only.
0 of 6 checks marked
Compare the converted rows with the original PDF page by page. Check the page numbering, such as page 3 of 4, and that the first and last transaction dates fall inside the statement period.
If the statement prints total money in and total money out, add up the converted rows and compare. Then check that the opening balance plus money in minus money out equals the printed closing balance.
Recalculate the balance after every row and compare it with each balance printed on the statement. The first row where the two disagree is where to look.
Make sure money out is negative and money in is positive, or that each amount sits in the right column. Check rows around a change of year and any date where the day is 12 or lower, because 03/04 can mean 3 April or 4 March.
Look for rows that repeat with the same date, description and amount, and for rows that hold only part of a description and no amount. Check the rows at the top and bottom of each page most closely.
Correct the rows against the PDF, then rerun the totals and the running balance. A fix in one place can expose a second error that the first one was hiding.
Where conversion errors come from
Most errors come from the layout of the statement rather than from reading individual characters. The same converter can handle one bank’s statements well and another bank’s poorly, and a clean text PDF and a phone photo of the same page are different problems.
- Scans and photos: blur, skew, low contrast and stamps can turn 8 into 3, drop a decimal point or lose a minus sign.
- Wrapped descriptions: a description that runs onto a second line can be read as a new row, or the second line can be dropped.
- Page breaks: rows at the top or bottom of a page can be missed, and balance brought forward lines or page subtotals can be read as transactions.
- Signs: banks show money out in a separate column, with a minus sign, in brackets or with DR and CR labels. A misread column reverses the sign.
- Dates without a year: many statements print only the day and month, so rows in a December to January statement can land in the wrong year.
- Extra tables: fee summaries, interest tables and check images can be read as transactions.
What an accuracy percentage does and does not tell you
An accuracy figure is only as useful as its method. Ask what was counted: characters, fields, rows or whole statements. A tool can read nearly every character correctly and still get an amount wrong by one digit, and that single digit is the one that matters for your balance.
Ask which statements were tested. An average over clean text PDFs from a few large banks says little about scanned statements, small credit unions or statements in other languages. Ask whether the test documents and the scoring method are published so that you could repeat the test.
The figure that matters is the error rate on your own statements, and only your own checks can measure it. Fulla Ledger does not publish an accuracy percentage and does not promise perfect extraction. It asks you to check each row against the page before export, which is what this guide recommends for any converter.
Checks to run on any converted statement
Run the checks from the widest to the narrowest. Coverage comes first, because a missing page makes every later check fail. Totals and the closing balance come next, because they are quick and show whether something is wrong. The running balance then shows where it is wrong. Finally, check the fields that a balance cannot test: dates, descriptions and the split between rows.
The table at the top of this guide lists common symptoms, their likely causes and the check that confirms each one. The size of a difference is often the best clue. A difference equal to one transaction usually means a missing or duplicated row. A difference of twice a transaction usually means a reversed sign. A difference that divides evenly by 9 often means two digits were swapped.
The running-balance check in Excel
Put one transaction per row with the date in column A, the description in column B, a signed amount in column C (money in positive, money out negative) and the balance printed on the statement in column D. Leave row 1 for headings and put the opening balance from the statement in cell E2.
If your file has separate money in and money out columns instead of one signed amount, add money in and subtract money out in the formula. For example, with money out in C and money in in D, the calculated balance in row 3 is =E2+D3-C3.
- Calculated balance: in E3 enter =E2+C3 and fill it down to the last row.
- Difference: in F3 enter =IF(D3="","",ROUND(E3-D3,2)) and fill it down. ROUND removes tiny spreadsheet rounding differences, and the IF skips rows where the statement prints no balance.
- Read down column F. Every value should be 0. The first row that is not 0 marks where the problem starts; compare the rows just above it with the PDF.
- Closing balance: the last calculated balance should equal the printed closing balance.
- Possible duplicates: in G3 enter =COUNTIFS(A$3:A$500,A3,B$3:B$500,B3,C$3:C$500,C3) and fill down. Any result above 1 is worth checking, though two identical purchases on the same day can be genuine.
What a balance check cannot catch
A balance check tests amounts and signs. It cannot see anything that leaves the total unchanged, so a statement that balances to 0.00 can still contain errors.
- A wrong date or a wrong year.
- A wrong or truncated description, or a description attached to the wrong amount.
- Two errors that cancel out, such as a missing 50.00 debit and a duplicated 50.00 debit.
- A transaction placed in the wrong order between two printed balances.
- A missing deposit and a missing withdrawal of the same amount.
- Anything on a statement that prints no running balance, where only the closing balance can be checked.
How Fulla’s review handles this
Fulla Ledger does not promise perfect extraction. It accepts text, scanned, mixed and password-protected PDFs and turns them into a draft of transaction rows. Automatic checks score each draft, and you review it before anything leaves the app.
Select a row to see the statement page and the highlighted area it came from. You can correct, split, merge and undo rows, and check balances, before you approve. Nothing is exported until you approve the rows, and every export uses the approved revision. The Excel workbook includes an Original Fields sheet alongside the Transactions and Statement sheets.
Re-running extraction or inspecting a page again does not use another page of your allowance, so checking a doubtful page closely does not cost more.
Try the checks on a sample statement
Fulla’s Samples page has a fictional one-page bank statement with its matching Excel, CSV and OFX files. You can run the running-balance formula above on the sample files and compare each row with the PDF. The page also walks through one reversed sign and shows how much it moves the closing balance.
The sample shows file structure and the checks. It is not an accuracy benchmark, and it does not show how any converter performs on your own bank’s statements.
Sources and documentation
- Microsoft: IF function(opens in a new tab)
- Microsoft: ROUND function(opens in a new tab)
- Microsoft: COUNTIFS function(opens in a new tab)
Follow the source links for original definitions and current product requirements.
Questions about this guide
How accurate are bank statement converters?
It varies by converter and, even more, by statement. Clean text PDFs usually convert better than scans or photos, and unusual layouts cause more errors than common ones. No single percentage predicts how a converter will do on your statements, so check every converted statement against the PDF.
Is a matching closing balance proof that the conversion is right?
No. It is a useful check, but two errors can cancel out, and a wrong date or description does not change the balance. Check page coverage and spot-check rows against the PDF as well.
Why does my converted bank statement not balance?
The usual causes are a missing or duplicated row, a reversed sign, a misread digit, a balance brought forward line read as a transaction, or a missing page. Find the first row where the calculated and printed balances differ and compare that part of the PDF.
Are scanned bank statements converted less accurately?
Scans add a step, because the page has to be read from an image. Blur, skew, low contrast and stamps make misread digits, signs and decimal points more likely, so check scanned statements more closely.
Does Fulla Ledger publish an accuracy rate?
No. Fulla does not promise perfect extraction or publish an accuracy percentage. Each row links to its source page, automatic checks score each draft, and you approve the rows before anything is exported.
How do I check a statement that has no running balance?
Check that the opening balance plus money in minus money out equals the closing balance, compare the totals with any summary the statement prints, count the rows on each page, and compare the rows with the PDF directly.