Every accounting app wants you to connect your bank. Every small business owner has a story about the feed that disconnected in March and quietly dropped six weeks of transactions. There is an older, better source: the statement.
Why the statement wins
- It is the document the bank stands behind. Feeds are best-effort; statements are the record.
- It has opening and closing balances, so a statement-based import can be reconciled the moment it lands.
- It covers exactly one period, so you always know what is in your books and what is not.
- It requires no credentials. You download a PDF; nobody stores your bank login.
- It works for accounts that have no feed: small credit unions, neobanks, foreign banks, closed accounts.
The workflow
- Once a month (or once a year, if you are catching up), download the PDF statement for each account.
- Upload it. The AI reads the account, period, balances and every transaction.
- Each transaction is categorized with a confidence score. Confirm the uncertain ones.
- The import is checked against the statement's balances. If they match, the month is done.
What about receipts and invoices?
They are supporting documents. Upload them and they are matched to the statement transaction they explain, which is what an auditor wants to see: the bank record and the evidence behind it, together.
When a feed is better
If you have thousands of transactions a day, a feed is the only practical option. For the other 95% of small businesses, the monthly statement is simpler, more reliable and safer.