The Two-Minute Check for Converted Bank Transactions

What this note is about

Before downloading or sending the XLS anywhere, a short row review catches most of the mistakes that matter.

Start at the edges

The first thing I check is the first transaction and the last transaction. If either edge is wrong, the rest of the file has not earned trust yet.

This catches summary rows treated as transactions, missed pages, and extractions that stop before the final page.

Signs and balances do the hard work

Amount signs matter more than neat formatting. Fees, purchases, withdrawals, deposits, refunds, and transfers need to point the right way.

If the statement includes a running balance, use it. A balance that stops making sense is a fast way to spot a skipped row, duplicate row, bad decimal, or flipped sign.