To request a replacement bank statement, the client, as account holder, downloads it from online banking or asks the bank for a copy, naming the account, the statement period and the format wanted, ideally the bank's own PDF. While the copy is on its way, you post what you can for that month and leave it open.
When does a client need a replacement bank statement?
A client needs a replacement bank statement when the file you have cannot prove the month. That covers a statement that never arrived, one with pages missing, a phone photo too blurred to read, a printout with handwriting over the figures, and a scan where the balances cannot be made out.
The test is simple. Can you read the opening balance, every transaction and the closing balance, and do they add up? If any one of those fails, the statement needs replacing. A conversion that fails its balance check is often the first sign: the gap between computed and printed closing balance says a line or a page is not there.
A password-protected PDF is a different problem. The statement is complete, just locked, and the client can usually give you the password instead of a new file. Unlocking password-protected bank statements in bulk covers that case.
Who can request a replacement bank statement from the bank?
The account holder, or someone the account holder has authorized with the bank, can request a replacement bank statement. For most small-business clients, that means the owner or an officer requests it. A bookkeeper without that authority usually cannot, so your job is to make the client's request quick and exact.
The fastest route is often online banking. Most banks keep a run of past statements available to download as PDFs, and a downloaded copy is better than a scan because it carries the exact printed characters. When the month is older than online banking shows, the client has to ask the bank directly, by secure message, phone or at a branch. Some banks charge for older copies, so tell the client to ask before ordering a long run of months.
What to put in a replacement statement request
A replacement statement request should name the account, the exact periods and the format, so the bank sends the right thing the first time. Vague requests such as "last year's statements" come back incomplete or as the wrong account. Use these steps:
- List the account by its last four digits and its type, such as business checking.
- List each statement period needed by its start and end dates, not just the month name.
- Ask for the bank's PDF statement, not a transaction history printout. A history export often lacks opening and closing balances.
- Ask for all pages, including any summary or fee pages.
- Say where to send it: the client's online banking inbox or email, which the client then forwards to you.
A message the client can send
The values below are examples. Replace them with the client's details.
Please send PDF copies of the full monthly statements for business checking ending 4417, for the periods March 1 to March 31, 2026 and April 1 to April 30, 2026. Please include every page. Send them to my online banking messages.
Give the client this text ready to paste. A request they can send in a minute gets sent the same day.
Posting a month while the replacement statement is on its way
While a replacement statement is on its way, you can post the month provisionally from whatever other record you have, but you cannot close it. Post from the bank feed, a transaction history export or the readable pages of the damaged file, mark the month as open, and do not reconcile or sign it off until the replacement arrives.
What to post and what to hold
- Post lines you can see on another record with a date and amount you trust.
- Hold the reconciliation, because there is no confirmed closing balance to reconcile to.
- Hold sign-off and any report to the client for that month.
- Note in the client file which month is provisional and what it waits on.
When the replacement arrives, convert it, compare its lines with what you posted, and add or correct the differences before reconciling. Treat that comparison as part of review. The bookkeeping review checklist before sign-off includes the balance and open-question checks a provisional month must pass.
Months that follow
You can carry on with later months, but each one inherits the open month's opening balance. Use the next statement's printed opening balance as your anchor for the following month, so a single missing statement does not ripple through the year.
Replacement statements for closed and card accounts
Replacement statements for a closed account are harder to get, because the client may no longer have online access to it. They usually need to contact the bank directly and may need to prove identity again. Ask for the final statement first, since it shows where the remaining balance went. Closed bank account bookkeeping explains why that last statement matters.
Card accounts follow the same request steps, with one difference. Card statements run on their own cycle, often mid-month, so name the cycle's closing date rather than a calendar month. The card's own quirks, from flipped signs to payment matching, are covered in credit card statement bookkeeping.
Once replacements arrive, AutoBankConvert converts them alongside the rest of the client's statements and runs the same balance check, so you know at once whether the new copy is complete.