Credit Card Reconciliation Export Checklist: Validate Signs, Totals, and Rows
A practical pre-import validation checklist that catches sign errors, summary-row contamination, and reconciliation drift for statement exports.
Purpose
This checklist is for teams who already converted a statement but want to catch errors before import. It focuses on the three things that usually break reconciliation: signs, totals, and “not-quite-a-transaction” rows.
Step 1: Verify balances (source vs export)
- Compare opening/closing balances where your export includes them.
- If balances aren't present per-row, compare statement totals to exported net movement.
Step 2: Validate signs with a quick sample
Pick 5 known inflows, 5 known outflows, and confirm the sign convention matches the statement.
| Check | Pass condition | What failure looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Charges sign | Consistent negative/positive | Charges look like payments |
| Payments sign | Consistent opposite sign | Payments look like charges |
| Refunds/reversals | Negative/adjustment behavior is correct | Refund becomes a new charge |
Step 3: Detect summary rows
Filter the export for patterns like "Total", "Previous balance", "Account summary". Summary rows must not be imported as transactions.
Step 4: Row completeness
- Check row counts against the statement's transaction section length (or per-page extraction).
- Spot-check that each page's transaction block produced rows.
Step 5: Export and import hygiene
- Export CSV for system imports.
- Export Excel for human review.
- Keep the PDF untouched as the evidence record.
Internal links
- Conversion workflow: /
- PDF to CSV: /blog/pdf-bank-statement-to-csv
FAQ
Why does a validation checklist matter?
Because the most expensive reconciliation errors are silent: the file imports, but the totals don't match.
What's the fastest validation?
Net movement + row count + sign sample.
FAQ
What's the fastest validation?
Net movement + row count + sign sample.