Import Bank Statement into Wave from CSV or OFX

To import a bank statement into Wave, download it from your bank as an OFX, QFX or QBO file if you can, or as a CSV if not. In Wave, open Accounting, then Transactions, choose More and Upload transactions, pick the payment account and confirm the date, amount and description columns. A PDF must be converted first.

Which statement file types does Wave accept?

Wave accepts four bank file types plus CSV as a fallback. Wave's help article on uploading bank and credit card statements lists Microsoft Money (.ofx), QuickBooks (.qbo), Quicken (.qfx) and Simply Accounting (.aso) files, and says Wave recommends one of those four over CSV whenever you have the choice.

The reason for the preference is structure. An OFX, QFX or QBO file labels every field: this is the date, this is the amount, this is the payee. A CSV is only rows of text, so Wave has to ask you which column means what. That extra step is where most CSV uploads go wrong.

When you visit your bank's download page, look for the choices in this order:

1. QBO or QuickBooks Web Connect. Built on the same OFX base, and Wave lists it by name.
2. QFX or Quicken. Same idea, made for Quicken, and on Wave's list too.
3. OFX or Microsoft Money. The plain standard, also accepted.
4. CSV or spreadsheet. Works, with column confirmation.

Many bank download pages show all four, often under labels that name the program rather than the format. A choice called "QuickBooks" usually gives a QBO file and one called "Quicken" a QFX.

A note on what Wave doesn't list: Excel workbooks (.xls or .xlsx) and PDF statements are not in Wave's set of upload types. An Excel file can be saved as CSV first. A PDF needs more work, covered in its own section below.

Uploading an OFX or QFX statement to Wave

Uploading an OFX or QFX statement to Wave takes a few clicks from the Transactions page. Choose Upload transactions under the More button, pick the file, select the payment account it belongs to and upload. Wave then asks you to confirm the date, amounts and description before it adds the lines to that account.

The steps, as Wave's upload article gives them:

1. In the left-side menu, select Accounting, then Transactions.
2. At the top right, click More and choose Upload transactions.
3. Under step 2, click Choose File and pick the statement you downloaded.
4. In the Payment account field, choose the Wave account the statement belongs to.
5. Click Upload.
6. Confirm the date, then confirm the amounts.
7. Pick the column that holds the best description.
8. Click Upload my statement.

The payment account in step 4 must already exist. If you haven't added that bank or card account to Wave yet, add it first, then return to the upload. Picking a different account just because it is there sends every line to the wrong place.

Wave says the new lines may take a few moments to show. Wait for them before you upload the next file. Uploading the same file twice because the first one looked slow is a common way to end up with doubled transactions.

The three columns Wave asks about in a CSV statement

A CSV statement upload in Wave comes down to three columns: the date, the amount and the description. Wave's guide to uploading a statement in CSV format walks through confirming each one, and says Wave will pick the column for you when a file has only one date column or one amount column.

Choosing the date column

The same guide says to use the transaction date, the day you made the purchase, for bank statements. For credit card statements it asks for the posting date, the day the card company took the money. If your CSV has both dates, choose according to the account type, and stay consistent from month to month.

Choosing the amount column

For a checking account, Wave asks you to pick the column with the amounts that represent deposits. For a credit card, it asks for the column with the charges. If your bank's CSV has one signed amount column, Wave selects it on its own. If it has separate money-in and money-out columns, check carefully that the right one is picked.

A sample CSV for Wave

Here is an example file with made-up values. One date, one description, one signed amount per row:

A layout this plain gives Wave the least to guess. The finer points, such as header rows, date styles and number formats, are in the post on the Wave CSV import format and the columns Wave reads.

If you keep transactions in a Google Sheet, you can download the sheet as a CSV and upload that. The column rules in the guide to importing Google Sheets into QuickBooks Online as a CSV were written for QuickBooks, but the clean-up it describes, one date format and plain numbers, helps a Wave upload just as much.

Can a PDF bank statement go into Wave?

A PDF bank statement can't go into Wave directly, because a PDF is not among the file types Wave's upload accepts. You have two ways forward: ask the bank for a downloadable file covering the same dates, or convert the PDF into a CSV with one date, one description and one amount per line.

Try the bank first. Online banking often keeps downloadable history for a while, even when you only remember seeing PDFs. An OFX or QFX file from the bank skips the column step entirely. For older months, though, the PDF may be the only record left.

When you convert a PDF to CSV, check these before uploading:

• Every page made it. Count the lines on the PDF and in the CSV for one page at least.
• Wrapped descriptions stayed whole. A description printed on two lines should become one row, not a row plus an empty one.
• Signs are right. Money out should be negative if you use a single amount column.
• Dates carry the right year. Statements that print only month and day are easy to misdate around New Year.

SimpleBankConvert is being built to turn digital PDF statements into tidy CSV files, with mixed dates fixed and the two money columns merged into one signed amount. It is made for QuickBooks and Xero, so test one month in Wave before relying on it there, and see a sample converted file on the homepage.

Currency and payment account slips in a Wave statement upload

The two slips that most often spoil a Wave statement upload are a currency mismatch and the wrong payment account. Wave's upload article says the statement must be in the same currency as the account you import into. A statement in Canadian dollars can't go into a Wave account set up in US dollars.

A currency mismatch tends to show up with foreign accounts and some payment services. Fix it in Wave by adding a payment account in the statement's currency, then uploading into that one. Don't edit the amounts in the file to make them fit. That hides the exchange difference and makes later reconciliation harder.

The wrong account is the quieter problem, because Wave accepts the file without complaint. Signs that you picked the wrong account:

• The account's balance jumps by an amount you don't recognize.
• Familiar payees from one bank show up in another bank's register.
• A credit card's charges appear as deposits in a checking account.

When it happens, remove the uploaded lines from the wrong account before uploading again into the right one. Doing it in that order avoids the same lines living in two places.

Moving between Wave and other small business tools brings the same questions about accounts and currency. If you are weighing FreshBooks as well, compare the steps in how to import a bank statement into FreshBooks.

Proving a Wave statement upload brought in every line

Proving a Wave statement upload brought in every line means comparing two numbers: the change in Wave's account balance over the statement period, and the change printed on the statement. Closing balance minus opening balance on the statement should equal the total of the lines Wave added for those dates.

A worked check

Example values for an April checking statement:

A match means nothing was missed or doubled. A gap equal to one line's amount means that line is missing or extra. A gap of twice a line's amount usually means a sign flipped, so a withdrawal came in as a deposit.

Habits that keep checks easy

Upload statements in order, one at a time, and run the check before the next one. Keep each file's dates to a single statement period so overlaps can't sneak in. And keep the original PDF or download beside the upload. If a number looks off months later, you'll want the source to compare against.