When you read a long statement, you’ll usually find much more information than just the transaction ledger. Account summary, explanations, notifications and disclosures can be found in the actual information that a bookkeeper will need.
If the intention is to convert transaction data into a spreadsheet or an accounting system, a thorough processing of everything may be unneeded. A more organized workflow starts by identifying the pages that are useful before creating the output files.
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More Pages Doesn’t Mean More Useful Data
Imagine a company reviewing the banking activities of a number of months. Each monthly PDF might contain 10 or more pages, but only a small portion of each file contains the transactions tables that are required for financial work.
One option is to manually copy these tables, however this could be time-consuming and result in typing mistakes. Businesses can convert bank statement data into Excel but only the relevant pages.
Docubrew’s page preview lets a user to review the page and choose what to process. Cover sheets, disclosures, and other pages that aren’t required are able to be removed.
Get More Control by Previewing the first
Automated systems are the most efficient when they can be monitored by the user.
Rather than performing a complete document conversion, Docubrew lets users preview statement pages before completing the conversion. It utilizes the original statement to extract data instead of trying to estimate financial values.
If you are converting a bank statement into Excel this preview provides an opportunity to ensure the right pages are chosen and to examine the extracted information before downloading the result.
This is a simple but crucial checkpoint when it comes to financial records.
Exports should be designed by the destination
The next thing to consider is what you plan to accomplish with the transactions.
Excel is a good option in situations where a bookkeeper must check the rows, sort information or use the spreadsheet data. CSV is the best option when the data is going into another system. Docubrew also supports QBO output.
Anyone who wants to convert a bank statement to CSV for example could create CSV instead of creating a CSV rather than making an Excel workbook initially and manually changing formats afterwards.
Docubrew’s output has been designed to work with accounting software such as QuickBooks, Xero, and FreshBooks, as well as spreadsheet-based workflows.
Paper statements from the scanner can be incorporated into the same workflow
Digitally generated PDFs are not the only PDFs that can be converted.
Sometimes, older statements are only accessible as scans of paper. Docubrew supports OCR for scanned statements in PDF format which means that the documents can be processed as well.
That can be helpful during the time when historical bookkeeping projects are in which recent records are digital but earlier statements were printed on paper. Instead of having two distinct workflows, the documents can be processed using the same conversion process and reviewed before being exported.
Locally process or use the Cloud
The outcome of financial documents is as important as the way they are interpreted.
Docubrew’s Windows Desktop application converts documents locally to the client’s computer. Cloud options are for users who would like to process documents through the browser. Docubrew claims that the cloud option will automatically delete converted and uploaded files within 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 by looking through the pages with the information you need. Examine what is being removed. Choose the best format for the next accounting task.
A more efficient financial workflow could begin, not by processing more instead, but by making less processing.