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The bank export and the ledger,matched on your PC.

Online banking lets you download transactions as CSV, and bookkeeping software exports the register. LedgerPair pairs them by reference or check number and leaves you the items that need a journal entry or a follow-up.

Download the transactions, export the register, match them on a reference column, and work through what remains: items in one file and amounts that disagree.

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If this sounds like your week

Ticking off a statement by hand eats the morning.

The classic method is a printed statement, a highlighter, and the general ledger on screen: find each deposit, find each withdrawal, tick both, repeat. At two hundred lines a month that is tedious but possible. Add several accounts, card settlements, and batch deposits, and a single missed tick sends you hunting for a variance that turns out to be a transposed figure from three weeks ago.

Where tooling usually breaks

Banks and ledgers never format anything alike.

One file writes a withdrawal as (45.10), the other as -45.10. One says 03/01/2026, the other 2026-03-01. One puts a currency code in front of every figure, the other adds thousands separators. Paste both into one worksheet and the lookups trip over presentation long before they reach a real discrepancy, and the cheque that cleared twice is still hiding somewhere in the column.

Where LedgerPair lands

Match on the reference, then work the exceptions.

LedgerPair reads the bank’s CSV and the ledger’s CSV or workbook, normalizes figures, dates, and spacing, and pairs entries on the column you choose, such as Reference, Check No, or Transaction ID. Entries only in the bank file, entries only in the ledger, and pairs whose amount or date disagrees are listed separately, ready for your reconciliation worksheet.

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What you get

Feature highlights

Rows paired on the keys you pick

tick one key column or several in each file, with different names allowed, and rows pair wherever they sit, so two exports sorted in different orders still line up.

Changed cells, side by side

every matched row whose values differ is listed with the columns that changed, and the detail pane shows both files’ values with the differing cell highlighted.

Formatting is not a difference

spaces are trimmed, amounts compare as exact decimals, and dates as calendar dates, so 1,250.00 equals 1250 and 2026-03-01 equals 03/01/2026, with a day-first option.

Duplicate and empty keys surfaced

a key that appears more than once in a file is listed with every row number, and rows with an empty key are listed on their own, never matched.

Near-miss keys suggested

an unmatched key spelled almost like one in the other file is shown as a fuzzy candidate in its own column, with a similarity score in the export, and never counted as a match.

An evidence workbook you can keep

a new .xlsx with Summary, Additions, Deletions, Changes, and Duplicates sheets, while the originals are opened read-only and nothing uploads.

Especially when

  • Compare two CSV or Excel exports by a key column instead of building VLOOKUP or XLOOKUP formulas for every column
  • Find the rows that are in one export and missing from the other, plus the keys that appear twice, with row numbers
  • Stop formatting differences such as 1,250.00 against 1250 or two date notations from showing up as false mismatches
  • Keep a reconciliation record as a new Excel workbook, with the original files untouched and nothing uploaded

Who benefits

Real-world scenarios

A bookkeeper closing a client’s month

A bookkeeper reconciles a small business’s operating account every month. The bank’s CSV download has Date, Description, Reference, and Amount; the ledger export from the bookkeeping software has Date, Memo, Ref, and Amount.

She ticks Reference in the bank file and Ref in the ledger, then presses Compare. Entries only in the bank file are fees and deposits not yet booked, entries only in the ledger are outstanding items, and changed rows show amounts or dates that disagree.

Checks that have not cleared

At year-end the accountant needs the checks written in the ledger that the bank has not yet paid, listed by number, for the outstanding check schedule in the year-end file.

With the ledger as file A and the check number as the key, every check only in the ledger is outstanding. Choosing Only in file A in the filter shows them, and the Deletions sheet of the evidence workbook lists them with every ledger column.

A reference entered twice

The deposit total in the ledger is higher than the bank shows, the difference equals one customer payment, and scanning two hundred lines by eye has not found where it came from.

LedgerPair lists reference DEP-2207 as a duplicate key in the ledger export with both row numbers: the payment was recorded twice. The extra entry also appears as only in the ledger, marked duplicate key, ready to reverse.

Deep dive

Setting up a bank reconciliation from two exports

Export what each side has. From online banking, download the account’s transactions for the period as a CSV file; most banks offer it beside the statement. From your bookkeeping software, export the register or general ledger detail for the same account and dates as CSV or Excel. LedgerPair opens both from the Windows file dialog and works from the files alone, with no bank sign-in.

Choose a key both files carry. The key is whatever identifies one transaction in both files: a reference, a check or cheque number, or a transaction ID. LedgerPair suggests an identifier-like column the two files share. If the headings differ, such as Reference in the bank file and Ref in the ledger, tick each one under its own file. Two columns can form the key together, such as Date and Reference, when a reference repeats from month to month.

Let formatting stop mattering. Columns that share a heading, such as Amount and Date, are compared value by value. Amounts compare as exact decimals, so 1,250.00 equals 1250, (45.10) equals -45.10, and CAD 45.10 equals 45.10. Dates compare as calendar dates across ISO, slashed, and named-month notations. When a date such as 03/01/2026 could be read either way, LedgerPair says how many it found and which order it used; tick Dates are day first when your bank writes the day first, and the comparison runs again.

Read the result as a reconciliation. Rows only in the bank file are usually items the books have not recorded yet, such as fees, interest, or direct deposits. Rows only in the ledger are usually outstanding checks and deposits in transit. Changed rows are entries both sides have, with an amount or a date that disagrees. A duplicate key points at an entry recorded twice.

Near-miss references. A reference typed INV-2026-0O42 in one file and INV-2026-0042 in the other will not pair, but LedgerPair shows each as a fuzzy candidate for the other, in its own column. A candidate is a suggestion to check, and it is never counted as a match.

Keep the evidence. Export evidence workbook saves a new .xlsx file with a Summary sheet of counts, keys, compared columns, and the date order used, and separate sheets for additions, deletions, changes, and duplicates. File it with the month’s reconciliation. The bank and ledger exports themselves are never modified, and nothing leaves your PC.

Feature preview

Explore the intended workflow

Rows paired on the keys you pick

tick one key column or several in each file, with different names allowed, and rows pair wherever they sit, so two exports sorted in different orders still line up.

Changed cells, side by side

every matched row whose values differ is listed with the columns that changed, and the detail pane shows both files’ values with the differing cell highlighted.

Formatting is not a difference

spaces are trimmed, amounts compare as exact decimals, and dates as calendar dates, so 1,250.00 equals 1250 and 2026-03-01 equals 03/01/2026, with a day-first option.

Head-to-head

How LedgerPair compares

Feature LedgerPair Highlighter and printout Spreadsheet by hand
Matching Paired on the reference or check number you pick Line by line, by eye A lookup formula for each column
Different number and date formats Normalized first: (45.10) equals -45.10, and 03/01/2026 equals 2026-03-01 Read by eye Cleaned by hand before matching
Items in only one file Listed separately for the bank file and the ledger Whatever is left unticked #N/A results to filter
Repeated references Listed as duplicate keys with every row number Easy to tick twice The first match only
Record for the file New .xlsx evidence workbook with a Summary sheet The marked-up printout The working file

FAQ

Straight answers—no glossary dump

How do I do a bank reconciliation from a CSV export?

Download the account’s transactions as CSV from online banking and export the same period from your ledger. Open them in LedgerPair as file A and file B, tick the reference or check number column in each, and press Compare. Work through the rows only in one file and the changed rows, then save the evidence workbook with the month’s records.

How does LedgerPair get the bank transactions?

From the CSV or Excel file you download from online banking. You pick it in the Windows file dialog, and LedgerPair reads it on your PC. There is no bank sign-in, no account, and no network connection: the app works offline from the two exports you give it, and neither file is modified at any point.

Which column should be the key for a bank reconciliation?

A column that identifies one transaction in both files and is filled in on both sides: a reference, a check or cheque number, or a transaction ID. If the headings differ, tick each one under its own file. Two columns can work together, such as Date and Reference, when the same reference appears again in a later month.

What happens to my original files?

They are opened for reading only and are never written. LedgerPair compares the data it has read and saves its results to a new .xlsx file that you name in the Save dialog. Saving over either source file is refused with the message that originals are never overwritten, and a name that does not end in .xlsx is refused as well. If an export cannot be built, no file is left behind.

Where do my files go, and how do I get LedgerPair?

LedgerPair is coming soon to the Microsoft Store for Windows and is not available to download or purchase yet. Use the email form on its product page to join the waitlist, then confirm your email address. We will send launch updates when there is news. No payment is taken.

Related pages

Reconcile two spreadsheets, row by row, on the key you pick. What is in one file and missing from the other. Compare two CSV files by the key, not by line number.

LedgerPair is coming soon.

Join the waitlist for launch updates. The app is not available to download or purchase yet. No payment is taken.

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Excel is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. LedgerPair is made by Automata Labs and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft.