Catch-up bookkeeping: how to bring old months up to date
How to catch up on bookkeeping: choose the starting balance, get old statements, convert PDFs when downloads stop short, and reconcile statement by statement.
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Catch-up bookkeeping means getting the months your books are missing into the accounting software and reconciling them, one statement at a time, from a correct starting balance. Decide where the books start, gather the statements, import the transactions and reconcile in order. When a bank's downloads no longer reach back far enough, convert the PDF statements with PDF to QBO or the free bank statement converter. For the step-by-step list, use the bookkeeping cleanup checklist.
Decide where the books start
In QuickBooks Online, the opening balance tells QuickBooks when you want to start tracking transactions in an account, and it summarises all older transactions up to that point (Intuit (opens in a new tab)). If you need the older transactions after all, you edit the opening balance and its date. That resets the starting point so QuickBooks doesn't count transactions twice.
Timing matters. Intuit says it is much easier to add older transactions before you reconcile an account for the first time. If the account has already been reconciled a few times, you can still add them, but you may need help from your accountant.
When you set up a new Xero organisation with a pre-existing bank account, the starting point is a conversion balance: the account's balance on the date you convert to Xero (Xero Central (opens in a new tab)). Use the closing balance from your bank statement for the day before the conversion date.
Convert a PDF statement for free
Upload a text PDF bank or credit-card statement and see whether its transactions add up to its own balances before you download Excel or CSV. Up to 10 pages a day, no account needed.
Get the old statements
A connected bank feed only reaches back so far. In QuickBooks Online, download timespans vary by bank, from 90 days up to 24 months (Intuit (opens in a new tab)).
A bank's transaction downloads can cover a shorter period than its statement archive. Two US examples from the banks' help pages:
- Chase: the Spending Planner on desktop downloads CSV, QFX, QIF or QBO files for the last two years (Chase (opens in a new tab)), while statements are available for up to 7 years, depending on the account type (Chase (opens in a new tab)).
- Wells Fargo: account activity downloads cover the last 90 days by default, and up to 18 months for some accounts; credit card history can be viewed online for up to 90 days or 300 transactions (Wells Fargo (opens in a new tab)).
The bookkeeping cleanup checklist lists statement windows for more banks.
When downloads don't reach back far enough
For older months, you may have only the PDF statements. There are two routes.
Upload the PDF to the accounting software, where offered. Intuit's US help says QuickBooks Online accepts an account statement as a PDF or image, and that its AI extracts the info from the statement (Intuit (opens in a new tab)). Xero imports PDF statements only in organisations in the United States and Canada, and not on the Xero Ledger plan (Xero Central (opens in a new tab)).
Convert the PDF to an import file. A converter turns the statement into a QBO, OFX or CSV file you upload like a bank download. In QuickBooks Online, Intuit's US help says a QBO, QFX or CSV upload must be in English and 350 KB or less, that .csv, .txt, .qbo or .ofx uploads can include up to 1,000 lines, and, when you add older history, that the statement or record should start at least one day before your oldest QuickBooks transaction in that account. (For files that overlap a live bank feed, Intuit's advice is the opposite end: start after the newest transaction already there.) For larger uploads, use a shorter date range and smaller batches.
StatementLoom reads text PDF statements, not scans. It checks that the opening balance plus every transaction equals the closing balance, and only then allows a download as QBO, QFX, OFX, Excel, CSV or Xero CSV. It also warns when two statements for the same account overlap. The QBO file validator checks a QBO, QFX or OFX file before you import it.
Reconcile statement by statement
In QuickBooks Online, each reconciliation starts from the Last statement ending date, and the current statement should start the day after it (Intuit (opens in a new tab)). Enter the statement's Ending balance and Ending date, then match transactions until the Difference is $0.00.
The beginning balance of each reconciliation should match the ending balance of the last one (Intuit (opens in a new tab)). If it doesn't, QuickBooks won't let you continue until you account for the difference. One cause Intuit lists is a reconciled transaction that was edited, deleted, voided, moved or unreconciled.
In Xero, the statement balance and the balance in Xero should be the same once the account is reconciled (Xero Central (opens in a new tab)). See bank statement reconciliation for both programs.
QuickBooks Online and Xero side by side
The table summarises the Intuit and Xero articles linked above. Xero's supported formats and CSV row limit come from its import help (Xero Central (opens in a new tab), Xero Central (opens in a new tab)).
| QuickBooks Online | Xero | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting point | Opening balance and date | Conversion balance (new Xero organisation), from the day before conversion |
| PDF statements | Upload described in Intuit's US help | US and Canadian organisations only; not on the Ledger plan |
| File imports | QBO, QFX or CSV, 350 KB or less | OFX, QFX, QIF, CSV and QuickBooks files |
| Size limit | Up to 1,000 lines per upload | CSV up to 100,000 rows |
Sources
- Intuit: Reconcile transactions that are older than your opening balance (opens in a new tab)
- Xero Central: Enter opening bank account balances (opens in a new tab)
- Intuit: Connect bank and credit card accounts to QuickBooks Online (opens in a new tab)
- Chase: What's Chase Spending Planner? (opens in a new tab)
- Chase: Paperless statements (opens in a new tab)
- Wells Fargo: Account activity questions (opens in a new tab)
- Intuit: Manually upload transactions into QuickBooks Online (opens in a new tab)
- Xero Central: Import a PDF bank statement (opens in a new tab)
- Intuit: Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Online (opens in a new tab)
- Intuit: Fix beginning balance issues when reconciling in QuickBooks Online (opens in a new tab)
- Xero Central: Reconcile your bank account (opens in a new tab)
- Xero Central: About manually importing bank statements (opens in a new tab)
- Xero Central: Import a bank statement in CSV format (opens in a new tab)
Tools for this
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Free bank statement converter
Turn a text PDF statement into Excel or CSV after a balance check. No account needed.
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QBO, QFX and OFX file checker
Check a bank file’s structure, dates, amounts and transaction IDs before you import it.
Frequently asked questions
Is it better to add old transactions before or after reconciling?
Before. Intuit says it is much easier to add older transactions before you reconcile an account for the first time.
What if my bank feed doesn't go back far enough?
QuickBooks Online bank feeds reach back between 90 days and 24 months depending on the bank. For earlier months, upload transaction files or work from the PDF statements.
Why won't QuickBooks Online let me continue a reconciliation?
The beginning balance must match the ending balance of your last reconciliation. If it doesn't, QuickBooks won't let you continue until you account for the difference.
Convert a PDF statement for free
Upload a text PDF bank or credit-card statement and see whether its transactions add up to its own balances before you download Excel or CSV. Up to 10 pages a day, no account needed.