Plain-English definitions of every format, protocol, and bookkeeping term you'll meet when wrangling bank statements — OFX, QFX, QBO, IIF, MT940, CAMT.053, ACH, SEPA, reconciliation, and more.
An open XML-based format for exchanging bank, credit card, and investment data between financial institutions and bookkeeping software.
OFX was created in 1997 by Microsoft, Intuit, and CheckFree. Most U.S. banks still publish OFX-style downloads, and tools like Quicken, MoneyDance, and many CSV-importers accept it. It's a structured XML/SGML document with headers describing the account and a list of transaction blocks underneath.
Intuit's branded variant of OFX, designed specifically for Quicken. Looks identical to OFX but contains an Intuit-issued ID that ties it to a paid Quicken subscription.
Functionally a QFX file is an OFX file with a few extra header lines. The difference matters because Quicken refuses to import OFX without the Intuit ID — you have to either pay Intuit's data fees or convert the OFX to QFX with a third-party utility. QFX tokens expire every 30–90 days, which is why so many people end up converting PDFs to CSV instead.
QuickBooks' own variant of OFX, used for the Web Connect bank feed feature in QuickBooks Online and Desktop.
A .qbo file is OFX wrapped with QuickBooks-specific identifiers so the application can auto-match payees and accounts. Banks publish QBO files alongside their other download formats. The token inside expires every 30–90 days; after that QuickBooks rejects it. Most accountants prefer importing CSV for historical statements because CSV doesn't expire and is fixable in Excel.
A legacy tab-delimited format used by older QuickBooks Desktop versions for importing lists and transactions.
IIF predates QBO and is still supported by QuickBooks Desktop (Pro, Premier, Enterprise) for bulk imports of customers, vendors, accounts, and journal entries. IIF for bank transactions is technically possible but error-prone — Intuit officially recommends QBO/Web Connect instead. If you're on Desktop and need to import historical statements, the safest path is PDF → CSV → QBO mapping utility.
The SWIFT standard for end-of-day bank statement messages used by corporate banking customers worldwide.
MT940 is the most common format for cash management and treasury work. Each statement is a fixed-format message with tag fields (:20:, :25:, :60F:, :61:, :86:) describing the statement number, account, opening balance, transactions, and narrative. ERPs like SAP, Oracle, and NetSuite consume MT940 natively. It's being gradually replaced by the newer ISO 20022 CAMT.053 standard.
The ISO 20022 successor to MT940 — an XML format for end-of-day bank statements used across SEPA and most modern corporate banking.
CAMT.053 carries everything MT940 does plus structured remittance information, more granular FX detail, and ISO-standard amount fields. European banks have largely migrated already; U.S. and U.K. corporate banking is following over the next few years. If your bank gives you CAMT.053 XML alongside the PDF, that XML is the easiest path into a modern ERP — but for most small businesses, PDF → CSV is still the practical workflow.
The U.S. network for batched electronic bank transfers — payroll, direct deposit, bill payments, and most B2B payments under $1M.
ACH is operated by Nacha and the Federal Reserve. Transactions clear in 1–3 business days (same-day ACH is now available for an extra fee). On a bank statement, ACH transactions show as 'ACH CREDIT' or 'ACH DEBIT' with an originator name. The converter preserves the full ACH descriptor so you can match payers and payees in your spreadsheet.
A real-time, irrevocable bank-to-bank transfer used for large or urgent payments. Settles same-day domestically, 1–2 days internationally via SWIFT.
Unlike ACH, wires settle immediately and cannot be reversed. Domestic U.S. wires move over the Fedwire or CHIPS networks; international wires use SWIFT. Wire fees are typically $15–$50 outbound. On a statement, wires show as 'WIRE OUT' or 'WIRE IN' with the beneficiary or originator name and a Federal Reference Number.
The global messaging network banks use to instruct cross-border payments. Not a payment rail itself — it carries the instructions; the actual money moves through correspondent bank accounts.
SWIFT stands for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. Every international wire your bank sends is essentially a SWIFT MT103 message routed through a chain of correspondent banks. Fees and FX losses stack at each hop, which is why services like Wise and Revolut bypass SWIFT for retail FX transfers.
The European zone where euro transfers move as cheaply and quickly as a domestic transfer. Covers 36 countries including the EU, UK, Switzerland, and Norway.
SEPA Credit Transfer and SEPA Direct Debit replaced the patchwork of pre-2008 European bank transfer standards. Most SEPA Credit Transfers now settle as SEPA Instant — under 10 seconds, 24/7. On euro bank statements you'll see SCT, SDD, and SCT Inst as transaction codes.
The accounting process of comparing your books to the bank statement and resolving every difference — outstanding cheques, deposits in transit, fees, errors.
Reconciliation is what catches bookkeeping errors, fraud, and uncategorised transactions. A properly reconciled month-end balance in QuickBooks or Xero must match the bank statement to the penny. The fastest path: import the bank's CSV (or convert the PDF first), let the software match what it can, then manually resolve the rest.
The accounting method where every transaction hits at least two accounts — one debit and one credit — and the books only balance when total debits equal total credits.
Double-entry has been the standard for serious bookkeeping since 15th-century Venice. It catches arithmetic errors and gives you both a Profit & Loss statement and a Balance Sheet from the same data. QuickBooks, Xero, Wave, FreshBooks, and Sage are all double-entry systems under the hood, even when the UI hides it.
Cash accounting records transactions when money moves. Accrual records them when the obligation is incurred, regardless of when cash settles.
Most small businesses and sole proprietors use cash. Most companies above ~$5M revenue (and all public companies) are required to use accrual. The same bank statement produces different P&L numbers under each method because accrual recognises invoices and bills before they're paid.
The rolling account balance printed after each transaction on a bank statement — what the account held at the end of that line item.
Running balance is a sanity check: any reconciliation error in the middle of a statement will throw off every running balance from that point down. The PDF converter preserves running balance as a separate column on export so you can verify the math in Excel before importing into bookkeeping software.
CSV is the universal format every bookkeeping tool accepts. The converter exports it from any bank statement PDF in under a second.
Open the converter