How to Review and Correct an Imported Statement

Where to Start

Every imported statement is listed on the Statements page. The Status column tells you at a glance whether a statement needs you. Click any row (or choose Open statement from its menu) to open the statement workspace: the rows Bankflow imported on one side and the original PDF on the other.

You don't have to review every statement. Most import cleanly and count straight away. This guide is for the ones that say otherwise.

What the Status Column Means

The Verification Checks

At the top of the workspace, a line like 92 Checks out, 4 of 4 checks passed summarises how well the statement agrees with itself. Expand it to see each check:

• Balances close: the opening balance plus the transactions equals the closing balance.
• Follows the previous statement: the opening balance meets the closing balance of the period before it.
• Rows trace to the page: every transaction was found in the text of the source document.
• Nothing missing or doubled: every row on the page is accounted for, and none is counted twice.

The result is one of three bands: Checks out, Worth a look, or Doesn't add up. A check that can't run is left out rather than counted against the statement. The first statement from an account has nothing before it to follow, for example. The number is there so a list can be sorted; the checks are what tell you what to do.

Source file history

Below the checks, Bankflow shows what the PDF records about itself: the software that produced it, when it was created, and whether it was changed later. This is context, not a verdict. Those details are easy to rewrite, so they never move the score, and nothing here says whether a statement is genuine. The balances are the stronger evidence.

Compare Rows Against the PDF

Click any row and the PDF moves to where that row was read, with the text highlighted. You can drag and scroll the PDF freely. Under View, choose the Row order (the same order as the PDF, or rows needing review first) and whether to highlight every imported row or only the one you're on.

The filter chips above the rows narrow the list:

• All: every row on the statement, except rows on pages you dropped.
• Needs a look: rows with a problem only you can settle, such as a balance mismatch or a suspected duplicate.
• Source hold only: rows waiting only because the whole statement hasn't been checked against its PDF yet. Nothing is wrong with them individually.
• Approved: rows you approved, corrected, or put back by hand.
• Excluded: rows outside your totals, however they got there.
• Edited: rows whose values you changed.

Check the Balances

A strip across the workspace shows the opening and closing balances, money in, money out, what the rows add up to, and the difference. When the difference is zero, the statement reconciles. When it isn't, the amount tells you what to look for: a missing row, a doubled one, or a misread figure. A balance Bankflow calculated rather than read from the page is marked as calculated.

Fix What Was Misread

Choose Edit on a row to correct its date, description, amount, or type. Add an edit reason if you want a note for later, and tick Apply fix to similar rows to correct every row with the same description at once. Every edit is recorded in the audit history, and the checks recalculate straight away.

Each row also has a switch to count it or keep it out of your totals. Keeping a row out doesn't delete it. A suspected duplicate can be discarded after you've compared the two occurrences in the source.

To change the statement itself, click Edit in the header. You can rename it, correct the opening or closing balance, change its currency, bank, or folder, or add a transaction the parser missed. Balance edits are audited too.

Drop a Page of Sample Transactions

Some statements include a "how to read your statement" panel with sample transactions laid out exactly like real ones. They read perfectly, so nothing flags them. Open Pages in this statement from the workspace, and pick the page to drop. Everything imported from that page is excluded from your totals. The rows aren't deleted, so you can check what was removed and put them back.

Approve and Turn the Statement On

When you're satisfied, approve the rows that were waiting for you. Approving records that you checked the values against the source. It doesn't rerun the parser or change any figure, and your decision stays in the audit history.

Whether a statement counts in your dashboard, cash flow, and reports is controlled from its menu on the Statements page: Turn on statement or Turn off statement. You can do the same for several statements at once from the selection bar. A statement with an unknown currency, no included rows, or an unresolved duplicate can't be turned on until that's fixed.

Other Things You Can Do From the Menu

• Report a problem sends the statement to our team with what went wrong: missing transactions, wrong balances, duplicates, wrong categories, misread text, or an unsupported format.
• Delete document removes the stored PDF but keeps its transactions. You won't be able to preview the original or review rows against it afterwards. To do this for every import automatically, turn on Delete original document after processing in Settings.
• Analyse statement opens a one-screen summary of the statement. See statements, banks, and folders.
• Run risk analysis audits the statement for lending risk. See risk analysis.

Next Step

With your statements in order, work with the transactions they produced, or see how banks and folders keep many statements organised.