Check payment signs before importing a bank CSV

Select one confirmed outgoing payment and one confirmed incoming receipt from the bank statement. Find both in the CSV and note their columns and signs. Then inspect how the import preview interprets them. This small check establishes the actual direction of movement more reliably than assuming that every bank uses the same debit and credit labels.

Intuit's CSV guidance supports both a single amount column and separate money-direction columns, and notes that credit-card exports can use different conventions. Treat a bank account and a card account as different import cases. Confirm the target account type before changing any signs in the source file.

Save an unchanged copy of the bank export. Record the account suffix, currency, covered dates and download time. Work on a separate import copy if formatting changes are required. Keep a short mapping note that explains which source field becomes the imported amount and how payments and receipts are represented.

For a two-column file, check whether blank cells or zeros indicate the unused side. For a single-column file, confirm whether a negative amount means money out in this particular export. Do not reverse the entire file based on one unfamiliar transaction that might be a refund, reversal or card payment.

If the file combines more than one account, separate it using a verified account identifier before importing. A correct sign convention cannot compensate for transactions being assigned to the wrong cash ledger. Retain the original identifier in the working record. Document whether transfers appear on both account exports, since each side must reach its own ledger once.

Calculate the total incoming amounts, total outgoing amounts and net movement in the selected range. Compare them with the bank's records for the same range and status population. A net total alone can hide equal errors on both sides. Investigate any missing, duplicated or reversed amount before posting.

Intuit's manual-upload guidance includes reviewing whether amounts are shown correctly as positive or negative. Use the preview to inspect more than the first row: include a refund, fee and transfer where present. Document any adjustment to the mapping and repeat the known-transaction checks after changing it.

For an illustrative file with $14,000 received and $9,000 paid, the expected net movement is an increase of $5,000. A preview showing a $5,000 decrease suggests a direction problem, but the individual transactions still need review before a blanket reversal is accepted.

If the import has already been posted, identify its exact transaction population and whether any entries have been matched, edited or reconciled. Follow the software's supported correction process with the accountant. Avoid importing a corrected file on top of the original and hoping matching will remove the errors.

After correction, reconcile the account to the external statement and inspect affected customer, supplier and transfer records. Reversed signs can have created incorrect receipt or payment applications, so checking the cash total alone is insufficient.

Keep the corrected mapping with the import procedure and review it after bank-format or software changes. Name the person who approves future file mappings. The next import should begin with the same verified payment-and-receipt check, using current source data and the established account type.