What to do
- Name the account, period and expected number of files so clients can locate the right statements.
- Request PDFs exported from the bank with every page and set up separate items when files need separate review.
- When the dates are wrong, ask for the precise replacement and keep the files already accepted.
- Monthly bookkeeping documents to request from clients
- Year-end bookkeeping documents to request from clients
- How to ask a client to replace the wrong document
Specify the account and the period
Use a recognizable account label such as “business operating account ending 4182”. Include the full period, including the year. If the client has operating, savings and foreign currency accounts, list each one you need. Include any closed account that was active in the period.
Ask for every page of the statement PDF downloaded from online banking. A transaction export can help with reconciliation, but it may omit the statement period or opening and closing balances. If you need both, create two separate items with clear names.
- Operating account ending 4182, January 1 to March 31, 2026, all statement pages.
- Business credit card ending 2076, January through March 2026, one PDF per monthly statement.
- If a statement cycle overlaps two months, ask for enough statements to cover every day in the requested period.
Copy the bank statement request email
Replace the account labels and dates with the agreed scope. If you need a separate item for each month, list those months individually so the client knows where to upload each file.
Bank statement PDFs for [business], [start date] to [end date]
Hi [first name], For your [period] bookkeeping, please download the original statement PDFs for these business accounts: - [account label or last four digits] | [start date] to [end date] - [account label or last four digits] | [start date] to [end date] Include every page, even if an account had no transactions. Please upload the files by [deadline]: [upload link] If the bank issues monthly statements, upload one complete PDF per month. If an account opened or closed during the period, let us know the date. Thanks, [your name]
What happened in a DocAsker upload test
We created a bank statement request for January 1 to March 31, 2026 and uploaded a sample PDF dated April 1 to June 30, 2026 through the client link. The date and period check failed. The portal asked for the January to March period and marked the item for a replacement.
We uploaded a second sample PDF covering January 1 to March 31, 2026. The date and period check passed and the item was accepted in that test. Both PDFs were prepared for the test. They contained no client records.
Handle partial periods and unfamiliar formats
If the bank issues statements on a different cycle, check the dates across the available files for gaps. For example, a February 15 to March 14 statement alone leaves part of March uncovered. Request the adjacent statement needed to complete the period.
If the client can only obtain a bank letter or a transaction export, agree on what the firm can use and record that decision. Keep a document in human review if the date range is ambiguous or the account cannot be identified from the file.
