BANK STATEMENT REVIEW GUIDE

Bank statement review checklist before export.

Before you use a converted bank statement, compare its transactions with the original PDF page by page. Check row counts, page boundaries, dates, signed amounts, duplicates and balances when available. Then test a small CSV or Excel import. This printable checklist gives bookkeepers a repeatable way to catch errors that a plausible-looking spreadsheet can hide.

Use the checklist ↓

For digital and scanned statements · Updated September 25, 2026

EIGHT CHECKS BEFORE HANDOFF

Work from the PDF outward.

Use one copy for each statement. Mark a check only after you have compared the export with the source, not merely scanned the output table.

Statement / period: ____________________Reviewer / date: ____________________

01Confirm the source scopeList the statement period and every PDF page you intend to convert. Note missing, blank, cover and summary pages before you count transactions.
02Count transactions on each pageCompare the number of actual transaction lines on every page with the extracted rows. Do not count repeated headers, opening balances or totals as transactions.
03Inspect page boundariesCheck the last row of one page and first row of the next. Watch for a wrapped description that continues across lines, a dropped row or a row imported twice.
04Check dates and descriptionsCompare each date with the PDF, including month/day order and year. Confirm that a multi-line description belongs to the correct transaction.
05Check amounts and directionVerify decimals, minus signs, refunds, and debit-versus-credit mapping against the source. One reversed sign changes the balance by twice that amount.
06Find missing and duplicate rowsScan repeated dates and amounts in context. Identical amounts can be legitimate, so use the PDF rather than deleting a row by pattern alone.
07Reconcile balances where availableUse opening balance plus signed transactions to compare with the closing balance shown on the statement. If balances are absent, record that this check is unavailable.
08Test the destination importReview the exported CSV or XLSX, map columns deliberately and import a small representative sample before a full accounting-system handoff.

Unresolved differences / unavailable checks:

SYNTHETIC WORKED EXAMPLE

A duplicate row can hide in a tidy export.

These figures are invented for illustration. They are not a real customer's statement or a Stmtio accuracy result.

Opening balance$1,000.00

Source transactions4 across 2 pages

Expected closing balance$4,484.50

Four synthetic transactions in the source PDF
PDF page	Date	Description	Signed amount
1	2026-03-02	Client payment	+$2,400.00
1	2026-03-03	Office supplies	−$86.50
2	2026-03-04	Software subscription	−$29.00
2	2026-03-05	Project deposit	+$1,200.00

If “Office supplies” is copied a second time at the page boundary, the draft has 5 rows and implies $4,398.00—$86.50 below the source closing balance. Check the PDF before excluding a row: repeated descriptions or amounts can also be legitimate.

REVIEW BESIDE THE SOURCE

Keep the original page in view.

Stmtio places extracted transactions next to the original statement PDF. Review a row in context, correct fields that need attention, and check page boundaries before you export. Its local OCR can read scanned pages, but OCR and extraction still require your review.

The statement PDF, extracted text and transaction data are processed and stored on your computer. Sign-in, subscription, device registration and page-allowance checks need an internet connection. Stmtio 0.1.0 is available for Windows x64 and macOS on Apple silicon or Intel.

Explore the bank statement converter and scanned PDF OCR workflow.

Stmtio review workspace with six synthetic transactions beside the original demo statement PDF — Actual Stmtio 0.1.0 review screen · synthetic demo data, separate from the worked example above

AFTER THE REVIEW

Choose an export for the next step.

CSV for column mappingCheck date, description and signed amount conventions before importing.Read the CSV guide ↗Excel XLSX for spreadsheet reviewInspect typed dates and numeric cells before sharing or importing.Read the Excel guide ↗

COMMON QUESTIONS

A few review decisions.

Is a matching row count enough?

No. A missing row and a duplicate row can cancel each other in the count. Check page boundaries, transaction details and balances where the statement provides them.

What if the statement has no opening or closing balance?

Do not invent one. Complete the page-by-page, field and duplicate checks, then record balance reconciliation as unavailable for that statement.

Can I skip review for a digital PDF?

No. Text-based PDFs avoid some OCR errors, but transaction extraction can still split descriptions, miss rows or map amounts incorrectly.

TRY THE REVIEW WORKFLOW

Start with one representative statement.

Download the unsigned Stmtio 0.1.0 preview for Windows x64, Apple silicon or Intel Mac. The first 10 pages are free; review every result before you use it for bookkeeping.

Choose your installer ↗