NAB Statement to Excel Converter

The recent-transactions PDF in online banking is convenient, and NAB is clear about what it is: a report of recent activity, not a statement. It is generated on demand for whatever range you choose, and a report does not carry the statement's own opening and closing balance for a statement period.

For anything that must stand up — a lender's file, an ATO review, a family law matter — convert the account statements. FlowParse's proof rests on the balances the statement prints; that is what makes a converted statement trustworthy.

Statements follow their own cycles; the financial year runs 1 July to 30 June. Smart Merge takes up to 100 NAB PDFs and builds one workbook in date order with the source on every row and a chain check that each closing balance is the next opening balance, so the year can be cut at 30 June wherever the statements start.

Statements from CommBank, Westpac, ANZ or Bendigo can be merged into the same workbook, matched column by column.

Australian accountants and BAS agents mostly work in Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks Online. FlowParse exports a CSV that fits Xero's and MYOB's bank statement import, a QBO file for QuickBooks, and an Excel file for review first.

Because the particulars are kept whole, each transaction can be coded and matched to its invoice or receipt after import — the starting point for GST on the BAS.

A statement downloaded from NAB Internet Banking carries real text and converts exactly. Paper statements from before you went online-only can be scanned and converted through OCR; scan them flat, one statement per file.

Upload each statement as one file so the proof can run from opening to closing balance, and use the desktop site to reach statements older than the app's two years.

Debit and credit columns, pasted into one list, become all positive. Dates like 03/04 are the 3rd of April in Australia but March 4th in an American template. FlowParse signs by column and writes unambiguous dates.

Long particulars — a BPAY reference, an overseas card purchase with its currency amount — wrap over two lines and become two rows. FlowParse keeps one transaction per row, and the balance proof confirms nothing was split or dropped.

A mortgage broker needs three months of statements for each applicant's NAB everyday account and six months for a savings account, plus a proof of balance. The applicants download the statements from NAB Internet Banking. The figures here are an illustration, not real applicants'.

Uploaded together, the statements become one workbook with the account on every row, each proved against its balances, with no month missing. The broker filters for salary credits, regular rent and loan repayments, and any dishonour fees — the same review the lender's credit team will do — and submits a file that has already been checked.

Document: account statements, not the recent-transactions report. Coverage: every statement in the period, each closing balance equal to the next opening balance. Reconciled: every statement proved before its totals are used.

And keep the PDFs — the ATO generally expects records to be kept for five years, and the converted file is a working copy of the statement.

Account statements and closed account statements for everyday, savings and business accounts convert and are proved against their balances. Credit card statements convert as purchases and payments against the previous and new balance.

Proof of balance, interest statements and the recent-transactions report are not period statements. Keep them for their purpose; convert the account statements.

NAB's online statements service covers letters as well: once you opt into online-only statements and letters, the letters NAB sends can be viewed and downloaded in NAB Internet Banking. Some of them explain movements on the statement — a fee change, a rate change on a savings account, a dishonoured payment.

Those letters are not movement lists and do not convert into rows. They are the context for rows: when a converted statement shows an unusual fee or a change in interest, the letter from the same month explains it. Keep them in the same folder as the statements you convert, so the explanation is never far from the number.

For a lender or an accountant reviewing someone else's account, asking for the letters alongside the statements often answers questions before they are asked — a dishonour fee with its letter tells a clearer story than a fee on its own.

NAB's page says that if you cannot access statements for the last seven years in online banking, you should contact NAB. That happens with accounts opened recently, accounts converted from another product, or periods before you opted into online-only statements.

Upload what you can download first. Smart Merge's chain check shows exactly which periods are missing between the statements you have, so the request to NAB can name the months instead of asking for everything.

It also helps with the app's two-year limit: statements older than that are in NAB Internet Banking, and a request for anything still missing can then be specific about the account and the months. Once the missing statements arrive, add them to the same batch and the chain closes.