Convert an Amex statement to Excel or CSV
Drop the American Express statement PDF below. Brought Forward reads it on your computer, checks that the transactions add up to the statement’s new balance, and downloads a CSV for Excel or a file for Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent, OFX or QIF. Nothing is uploaded.
Beta: built from the published layout, not yet tested on a real statement. Generated statements in this layout read perfectly. A card statement has no running balance, so the check is the statement’s own sum: previous balance, plus new spending, less payments and refunds, must equal the new balance to the penny. If yours doesn’t, you’ll see it straight away, and the one-click report (issuer name only) tells us to look.
Getting the PDF from American Express
Sign in to your Amex account online, open Statements & Activity, choose the statement and download the PDF. Card issuers only let you export recent transactions as a spreadsheet; older months are PDF statements. Drop the PDF into the box above.
How Brought Forward reads an Amex statement
- Amex prints the month before the day (“Mar 02”), and both a transaction date and a process date. The transaction date is used; the year comes from the statement period.
- Purchases are printed as plain figures and credits with “CR”. Purchases become negative amounts, payments and refunds positive.
- Spending abroad shows the original currency and the exchange rate under the sterling amount. That line is kept in the description; the non-sterling fee is its own row.
Into your accounts
- Excel: the CSV opens directly, with money in and money out in their own columns.
- Xero, QuickBooks and FreeAgent: import into a credit-card account. Purchases come in as spending and payments as money in.
- OFX and QIF: written as a credit-card statement, for Moneydance, GnuCash, Quicken and other money apps.
Other cards: see credit card statement PDF to Excel.
Questions
- Amex lets me download transactions. Why convert the PDF?
- The download only goes back so far, and it isn’t the statement itself. For older months, or to match exactly what Amex billed, the PDF is what you have.
- Is my American Express statement uploaded anywhere?
- No. It’s read by your browser on your computer. The page is allowed to talk only to the licence server and a cookie-free page counter, and neither receives anything from your statement.
- Which way round are the amounts?
- As your accounts see a card: purchases, interest and fees are money out (negative), and payments and refunds are money in (positive). Xero, QuickBooks and FreeAgent all expect a credit-card account that way round. The OFX file uses the credit-card statement type, and the QIF file the credit-card account type.
- How much does it cost?
- Three statements a day are free. Pro is £8 a month or £69 a year for as many as you like, bank or card.
Last checked 28 October 2026.