When you read a long statement, you’ll usually find much more information than just the transaction ledger. There are account summaries and notices, as also explanatory texts along with disclosures and other pages which contain the data required by the bookkeeper.
Processing all data isn’t necessary if the goal of the task is to transfer transactions into an accounting system or spreadsheet. A more organized workflow starts with identifying the most useful pages before creating the output files.
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It Doesn’t Mean More Data.
Consider a business reviewing several months of banking activities. Although each month’s PDF might contain at least ten pages however, only a small fraction of it contains the accounting tables that are required.
Another option is to manually copy those tables, but this can be a slow process and could cause typing mistakes. Businesses can instead transform their bank statements in Excel and only include relevant pages.
Docubrew provides a preview page which enables the user to view and select what pages are processed. You can remove the cover sheet, disclosures as well as other pages.
You’re in more control when you preview first
Automation is useful only if you can see what it’s doing.
Docubrew lets users look at the statements before the conversion. Docubrew uses the original statement to extract figures instead of trying to estimate the value of financials.
When converting a PDF bank statement into Excel the preview gives the opportunity to confirm that the correct pages have been selected. You can also review the extracted information before downloading the result.
It’s an easy checkpoint however, it’s an essential one when financial records are involved.
The destination should shape the Export
The next issue is what you intend to make of the transactions.
Excel is very useful when an accountant needs to sort data, inspect rows or alter data. CSV is the best option for data that is being transferred to a different system. Docubrew can also output QBO.
A person who has to convert a bank statements into CSV For instance it is possible to create an CSV instead of making an Excel workbook in the beginning and manually changing formats later on.
Docubrew is compatible with accounting software such as QuickBooks®, Xero®, and FreshBooksin addition to spreadsheet-based workflows.
Scanned paper statements can be used to be included in the same workflow
Selective conversion doesn’t only apply to PDFs created digitally.
Businesses sometimes have older statements that are only available as scans of paper. Docubrew can process scanned PDF documents, like statements.
It can be beneficial during the time when historical bookkeeping projects are in which recent documents are digital, but earlier accounts were scanned using paper. Instead of having two distinct processes, documents can be processed through the same general conversion and then analyzed prior to export.
Process Locally or Use the Cloud
How documents related to finances are handled can be as crucial as the final product.
Docubrew’s Windows desktop application processes conversions locally, storing client documents on the computer. Cloud processing is accessible to users who prefer processes that are based on browsers. Docubrew says that uploaded documents are protected and files uploaded and the documents converted are deleted automatically after 24 hours.
Ultimately, converting a bank statement to Excel shouldn’t mean feeding every page of every PDF into a tool and hoping the output is useful.
Start with the pages that contain the information you need. Check out what’s been extracted. Choose the format that fits the accounting task to follow.
Sometimes, a smoother financial workflow is not achieved with processing more data however, but rather by choosing to process less.