LedgerMatch
American Express CSV Export: Column Layout & Reconciliation Guide
American Express uses a reversed sign convention — every charge (money you spent) is a positive number and every payment is negative, the exact opposite of a bank account. Importing without correcting this causes QuickBooks to record every Amex purchase as a deposit. Amex exports are also statement-scoped rather than date-range based, so multi-month reconciliation requires stitching multiple files. This tool flips the sign convention automatically and accepts multi-statement uploads.
CSV format at a glance
- Date format: MM/DD/YYYY
- Amount layout: one signed amount column
- REVERSED convention: positive values are charges (money out). Negative values are payments or credits (money in). Opposite of most bank accounts.
Where to export the CSV
Sign in → Statements & Activity → Download → CSV
Common import issues
- Amex uses a REVERSED sign convention compared to bank accounts. Charges (money spent) are POSITIVE and payments are NEGATIVE. If you reconcile against a ledger expecting negative debits, flip the sign during column mapping.
- Amex exports are statement-based, not date-range based. Each download covers one billing cycle. Download multiple statements for multi-month reconciliation.
- Some Amex exports include a "Reference" column for transaction IDs — useful if you need to trace disputes but not required for reconciliation.
- Additional card holder transactions appear in the same CSV as the primary card holder. Filter by card if you need individual card reporting.
- Amex does NOT export a running balance column. You cannot derive an opening or closing balance from the CSV alone — use your monthly statement PDF for that.
Useful setup tips
- Enable "Flip Amount Sign" in LedgerMatch's column mapping if your ledger treats debits as negative. This corrects the Amex reversed convention automatically.
- Download one statement (one billing cycle) at a time to keep your reconciliation periods clean.
- If reconciling multiple billing cycles, upload all statement files together in one LedgerMatch session — the tool deduplicates transactions that appear across consecutive statements.