Import a Bank Statement Into Akaunting (Excel)

Akaunting imports Excel, not PDF or CSV

Akaunting is a free, open-source accounting app you can self-host or run in the cloud, and its transaction import is stricter about format than most: the only file types it accepts are Excel, XLS or XLSX. Not a PDF, and, surprisingly, not even a CSV directly, a CSV has to be saved as an Excel file first. So a bank statement, which arrives as a PDF, has two hurdles, not one. Converting it straight to an Excel file clears both at once, producing the XLSX Akaunting's import expects rather than leaving you to first extract a CSV and then re-save it.

Download the sample, then fit your data

Akaunting imports through a template. Click Import, or the ellipsis icon at the top left, and choose Import, and on the import page you download the sample file that shows the exact columns it expects. You fill your transactions into that sample, save it as XLS or XLSX, then upload it and click Import. A converted Excel file makes this quick: the transactions come out as clean, separated columns you can line up against the sample rather than reshaping a raw export, and because the output is already Excel, there is no CSV-to-Excel step in between.

The Excel-only and 500-row limits

Two limits shape how you prepare the file. First, the format: XLS or XLSX only, so any CSV you might have has to be converted to Excel before Akaunting will take it. Second, size: an import is capped at 500 rows, so a long statement or a year of history has to be split into several files of 500 transactions or fewer, imported in turn. A converted Excel file already meets the format rule, and knowing the row cap up front lets you split a busy statement by date range so each import goes through without hitting the ceiling.

Open-source, self-hosted, and Import Pro

Part of Akaunting's appeal is that it is open-source and can run on your own server, keeping the books under your control. The trade-off is that the core import is the rigid template described above. Akaunting also sells Import Pro, a paid app that imports more flexibly without the fixed sample, but the core template path is what most people use, and a converted Excel file is built to slot into it. Either way, converting the PDF to Excel is the step that turns a statement into something Akaunting can ingest.

Accuracy and privacy

Because Akaunting reads a strict template, the Excel file has to be tidy, and every transaction is reviewable in the converter before export so a misread value does not break the import or the row count. The output arrives as an XLSX ready to drop into the sample. Since the statement holds real account activity, the file is processed to build the Excel and then deleted automatically, with nothing retained on a server afterward, which suits an app people often self-host precisely to keep their data close.

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