Banking technology has helped automate a great deal of bookkeeping However, anyone who has to work in financial records will tell you that automation isn’t perfect. Clients continue to send PDF statements, bank feeds may not work and historical transactions aren’t available. If this happens, someone must convert a document designed for reading into data that accounting software can actually utilize.
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A converter for your bank statement can take away a significant portion of the repetitive work that is involved in this process. Instead of manually entering dates or descriptions, withdrawals and deposits row-by-row, Docubrew converts statement information into a spreadsheet format that is ready to be used.
When a PDF is deemed to be the missing piece
Imagine a bookkeeper creating a year-end reconciliation for a new client. The accounting software has the most recent transactions, however some old months are missing. The client downloaded the original statements in PDF format.
Typically, rewriting those months could involve many hours of copying figures into the spreadsheet. A PDF bank statement that is converted to Excel workflow offers a viable alternative. Docubrew accepts digital PDFs and scans of paper statements, and extracts transaction data for spreadsheet use.
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
Statements from banks don’t contain only transactions. A 12-page report could contain an account summary, disclosures and notices, and several pages of the actual bank activity.
Docubrew lets users preview the document and pick the relevant pages prior to conversion. It makes it much easier to convert bank statements to Excel without having to import unrelated statement contents into the working data.
Once processed, the resulting file can be opened in Excel or made ready for use with accounting software platforms like QuickBooks, Xero, and FreshBooks.
CSV can be used to create a more flexible accounting workflow
CSV is still useful since it is widely supported by spreadsheets, databases and accounting software. Docubrew will convert your bank statements to CSV by using the transaction tables that are contained within the report.
The same workflow can be used to transform bank statements to CSV to serve a variety of reasons, including rewriting old books, working on an undertaking to cleanse the client database that is not being used, analyzing any missing transactions or creating the data to be used in reconciliation.
Accounting firms that have to manage many clients or statements can use batch processing to their advantage.
Financial Documents Need Considerate Privacy Controls
Processing financial records isn’t just about the convenience. Bank statements may contain sensitive information about clients accounting professionals and bookkeepers could also consider the place where they process.
Docubrew comes with two ways to process data. Its Windows desktop software processes files locally on the user’s PC thus the files aren’t being uploaded to convert them. People who prefer workflows that are based on browsers can select the encrypted cloud option, where uploaded files are automatically deleted within 24 hours.
This distinction is what differentiates Excel software, which is based entirely on remote processing from the platform for bank statements.
Turning Document Archives Back Into Working Data
Although PDF statements are great records, they’re difficult to utilize when transactions have to be sorted or reconciled. They can’t also be transferred, processed, re-organized and so on. Scanned documents could be problematic since transaction data may only exist as an image.
Docubrew offers statement parsing in conjunction with OCR support for scanned documents, giving accountants, bookkeepers and other businesses a feasible path from financial paperwork stored in archives to usable transaction data.
The result is a straightforward improvement to a previously tedious procedure: maintain the bank statement as the original financial record and then turn its transaction table into data you are able to work with.
