Convert a Trial Balance PDF to Excel and CSV

Why a trial balance is hard to convert from a PDF

Account names are long and they wrap. A name such as a combined clearing and suspense account can fill two lines, and a basic converter turns the second line into an extra row with no figures. Your sheet then has blank rows scattered through it.

Account numbers and names share a cell. When text is copied out of the PDF, the number runs into the name, and a sort on the number column does nothing useful. The page keeps them apart by position, and that position is lost in a copy.

Accounts are grouped, and the groups are indented. Assets, liabilities, equity, income and expenses are often separated by headings and subtotals. A simple copy keeps the headings as rows, so a sum over the figures counts the same money twice.

The report ends with a grand total, and long reports repeat their headers and a page total on every page. Those lines look like accounts to a tool that reads line by line. They need to be told apart from the real rows before anyone sums the sheet.

About trial balance reports

• A trial balance is a working document. Bookkeepers run it before they close a period, and they run it again after they post adjustments.
• Accountants use it to look for accounts that carry an unexpected figure, and to confirm that the books hold together before reports go to an owner or a lender.
• Accounting software prints it in several variants. A report can cover one period or compare several, and it can be as short as one page or as long as a ledger.

How we convert it

• The reader finds the table headers and the column positions on the page.
• Each row is cut by position, so a wrapped account name stays in its own cell.
• Every column in the document becomes its own column in the CSV.
• The preview shows the first rows free, and you can adjust the column positions if a column is misread, before you convert.
• The free preview shows the first rows, so you can check the result before you convert.

Every conversion also checks each page against the page image, and lines that continue a wrapped description are not counted as extra transactions.

The result is a CSV with Date, Description and Amount columns (plus Balance when the statement has one) that opens in Excel and imports into Google Sheets and QuickBooks. You pay per transaction, not per page. See plans and pricing.

What people do with the file

Period close. Load the report into a spreadsheet, sort by account number, and scan for accounts that look out of place before you post the final entries.

Comparing periods. Convert the report for two months, put them in one workbook, and let a formula show which accounts moved the most between them.

Handing over books. A new bookkeeper or accountant can start from a sheet instead of retyping every account from a PDF.

Building financial statements. Use the CSV as the starting point for a template that groups accounts into the lines of a report.

Good to know

• Look at the free preview before you convert, and adjust the column positions there if a column is misread.

Questions