Convert CommBank statements to Excel, Xero, OFX or QIF

Can you still export OFX or QIF from NetBank?

No. CommBank's list of NetBank feature changes says it plainly: exporting transactions in OFX and QIF formats is no longer available, and you can continue to export transactions from NetBank in CSV format. If your budgeting app or older accounting software expected an OFX or QIF file from CommBank, that route has closed.

You can rebuild those files here. Upload the NetBank CSV — CSV uploads use no pages from your plan or page pack — or the PDF statements, and export OFX for most personal finance and accounting apps or QIF for Quicken-style software.

What CommBank gives you, and for how long

Sources: CommBank's pages on online statements, NetBank feature changes and CommBiz transaction history. If the CSV doesn't reach back far enough — or the account is closed — convert the PDFs.

Reading a CommBank statement

CommBank account statements list each transaction with a date, a description, separate debit and credit amounts and a balance, between an opening and a closing balance. Dates are day-first, as everywhere in Australia, and card purchases can carry their own date inside the description, separate from the date the transaction was processed. Where a balance is marked CR (in credit) or DR (overdrawn) instead of carrying a minus sign, that marker decides the sign.

When converted, debit and credit become one signed amount, CR/DR balances become positive and negative numbers, and the running balance is checked on every row where it's printed. Choose DD/MM/YYYY in the CSV export so Australian software reads the dates the right way round.

CommBank statements into Xero or MYOB

• Xero: export the Xero CSV — it uses Xero's statement import columns — and import it into the matching bank account. Useful when a bank feed starts after the period you need or misses months. See bank statements to Xero.
• MYOB: export the file type your MYOB product's bank statement import accepts; OFX, QIF and CSV are all available here. More on the formats in bank statement to OFX and bank statement to QIF.
• Spreadsheets: Excel gives you a Transactions sheet and a Summary sheet by category and month — handy for a tax return or a loan application.

Converting statements the export doesn't reach

Statements stay available for up to seven years, grouped by financial year, so they reach further back than a recent-transactions export. Download the PDFs for the period you need — say, three financial years for your accountant — upload them together and export one file, optionally limited to a date range such as 1 July to 30 June. Transactions from all the statements are merged in date order.

For a closed account, statements are available for up to two years. If you need older ones, ask CommBank for copies; printed statements can be scanned or photographed and converted too — see scanned bank statements to Excel.

Business accounts and CommBiz

CommBank business customers on CommBiz export transaction history from Accounts → Transaction History, choosing an export format, and keep statements under Accounts → Online Statements for up to seven years. Whatever the source — a CommBiz export, a NetBank CSV or a PDF statement — the conversion works the same way, and several accounts can be combined into one export for the bookkeeping. For Barclays, HSBC, RBC and other banks, see all bank guides.

Questions