Import a Bank Statement Into Aplos Accounting

Why Aplos won't import your PDF

Aplos, the fund-accounting system many nonprofits and churches run on, brings bank transactions in two ways: a direct bank connection that imports automatically, and a Manual Import that reads a file you upload. Neither accepts a PDF. A bank statement PDF is a printed page, not a list of dated transactions, so there is no column of amounts for Aplos to code into a register. When your bank is not connected, or you need history the connection does not reach, the data is stuck in a document Aplos cannot open. Converting the statement to a CSV gives you the file the Manual Import expects, so a month of gifts, dues, and expenses comes in as codeable rows.

Manual Import: dragging in a CSV

The Manual Import tool is built for exactly this. In Aplos, open the accounting register you want the transactions in, go to the Manual Import page, and drag your converted CSV into the blue upload area to begin. Aplos reads the rows and presents them for coding before they post. Normally you would download this file from your bank, but a converted statement gives you the same clean CSV when the bank only provides a PDF. Because the conversion outputs consistent date, description, and amount columns, the import reads correctly without the reshaping a raw or malformed bank export often needs.

Coding to account and fund

Fund accounting is where nonprofit books differ from ordinary ones, and Aplos handles it at import. As each row comes in you assign it not just to an account, like contributions or utilities, but also to a fund, such as general, building, or a restricted grant, and you can add tags. That is how the organization keeps restricted money separate from unrestricted and can show a funder exactly how their gift was used. A converted CSV lays every transaction out for that coding pass, so assigning the right account and fund is a quick review rather than a hunt back through statement pages for what each line was.

Manual Import vs the bank connection

The direct bank connection is smoother for ongoing activity, pulling roughly the last 30 to 90 days automatically, so the Manual Import is the path for what it misses: a bank that is not connected, an account you have not linked, or transactions older than the connection reaches. That is precisely when a converted statement earns its place. Bringing a back period or an unsupported account in by CSV lets you close a gap between when an account opened and when the connection started, so the registers are complete before you reconcile the year.

Reconciliation and privacy

After the transactions are coded, Aplos bank reconciliation matches your recorded entries against the bank statement to verify accuracy, and a converted CSV also gives you the bank side in sortable form to check the register against. Getting the amounts right before import matters, and every transaction is reviewable in the converter first. Because these are a nonprofit's financial records, often including donor activity, statements are processed to build the CSV and then deleted automatically, with nothing retained on a server afterward, which keeps organization and donor data out of a third-party tool.

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