Typing statements into Excel vs converting them
A 4-page statement has 60 to 120 transactions. Typed carefully, that is about 45 minutes and, in practice, one or two transposed digits. This page puts numbers on the comparison so you can decide for your own volume.
Side by side
| Feature | Manual entry | stmtai |
|---|---|---|
| Time per 4-page statement | 30–60 minutes, plus checking | 10–40 seconds, plus a glance at the balance badge |
| Error rate | Roughly 1 in 300 keystrokes; usually found at month-end reconciliation | Every row checked against the running balance before you download; misreads are flagged, not hidden |
| Cost | Your time, or a bookkeeper at $25–60/hour | From $0.19 a page; 5 pages free to try |
| Output | Whatever you typed | Excel with numeric cells, CSV, QuickBooks .qbo, Xero CSV |
| Scanned or photographed statements | Same effort as digital | Read the same way as digital PDFs |
When manual entry is the better choice
- You have one short statement a year and no software to import into.
- The statement is handwritten (we read printed statements only).
When stmtai is the better choice
- More than one statement a month.
- Anything you will later reconcile in QuickBooks or Xero.
- Catch-up work: a year of statements at once, checked and imported in an afternoon.
Try it on your own statement
5 pages free, no account. You will know in under a minute whether it balances.
Drop your bank statements here
One file or a whole year. PDF, scanned image, CSV, QIF or OFX. Up to 12 files at a time; long PDFs are split for you.
Not ready to upload your own? See a sample result
Questions
What if the converter misreads something?
The balance check catches it: opening plus money in minus money out must equal the printed closing balance, row by row. The first row that breaks the chain is highlighted and you fix it in place. A typo you make yourself has no such check.
Is it cheaper than a data-entry service?
Data-entry services charge per page or per hour and take a day or more. A Pages Pack is $19 for 100 pages and the result is back in under a minute.