The short answer
The Macquarie Bank file has 10 columns, dates written as DD Mon YYYY and separate debit and credit columns. The CSV written for Xero has the columns Date,Amount,Payee,Description,Reference. So the date is rewritten as DD/MM/YYYY, the amount is written as one signed number, and the text columns are moved as in the table below.
Paid profile. The free manual column mapper works for any bank, this one included, but the free version writes only the first 25 converted rows of a file. The 9 USD one-time licence adds the ready-made Macquarie Bank profile (one of the 35 paid profiles) and removes the 25-row limit. The column table on this page is free to read and can be used to fill in the manual mapper.
The converter runs in your browser. Your file is not uploaded.
What the Macquarie Bank CSV looks like
- Country: Australia.
- Account type: not stated by source (config file is named default).
- Header row: yes, one row before the first transaction.
- Columns: 10, separated by commas.
- Date format: DD Mon YYYY, for example 04 Mar 2024 (the source writes it as d M Y).
- Amounts: separate debit and credit columns. Evidence for the direction: it is inferred from the role the open-source importer gives the column; no sample row confirms it.
- Header text: the source gives column positions and meanings only, not the header names.
Note kept with this layout in the profile data: Ten columns. Dates look like 05 Mar 2024.
What Xero accepts
- File type: CSV.
- Header row: optional; the vendor says a file can be imported without headings but named columns are easier to map.
- Required columns: Date, Amount.
- Optional columns: Payee, Description, Reference, Check Number.
- Amounts: One signed Amount column for both income and expenses. Income is positive; expenses are negative, written with a leading minus sign or in brackets, for example -30.00 or (30.00). Commas must not be used as the decimal mark.
- Dates: one of the date formats Xero lists on the page; the list could not be read on the checked date.
| Xero column | Required by Xero | Filled from the Macquarie Bank file |
|---|---|---|
| Date | required | column 1 |
| Amount | required | column 8 (positive) minus column 7 (negative) |
| Payee | optional | left empty: the bank file has no payee column |
| Description | optional | column 2 and column 6 |
| Reference | optional | left empty: the bank file has no reference column |
From a web search excerpt of the vendor's help page (the page itself refuses automated reading; re-check it in a browser): "Show income as positive amounts and expenses as negative amounts using a negative sign in front of the amount or with brackets, for example -30.00 or (30.00)."
Column-by-column mapping
Every column of the Macquarie Bank file, left to right, and where it ends up in the Xero file.
| Column | Header text | What it holds | Where it goes in the Xero file |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not given by the source | Transaction date | Date, rewritten as DD/MM/YYYY |
| 2 | not given by the source | Description | Description |
| 3 | not given by the source | Account or card identifier | Not copied |
| 4 | not given by the source | Category | Not copied |
| 5 | not given by the source | Not used | Not copied |
| 6 | not given by the source | Memo or note | Description, after the bank's description text |
| 7 | not given by the source | Money out (debit) | Amount, as a negative number |
| 8 | not given by the source | Money in (credit) | Amount, as a positive number |
| 9 | not given by the source | Not used | Not copied |
| 10 | not given by the source | Not used | Not copied |
Pitfalls for Macquarie Bank to Xero
Dates
- Same order of date parts (day first, then month, then year), different notation: 04 Mar 2024 in the bank file becomes 04/03/2024 in the Xero file.
- The month is an English abbreviation (04 Mar 2024). A spreadsheet set to another language may not read it as a date, so treat the column as text when converting by hand.
- Xero on dates: one of the date formats Xero lists on the page; the list could not be read on the checked date. The converter offers dd/mm/yyyy and mm/dd/yyyy and the user picks the one that matches the Xero organisation's region, then confirms the dates on Xero's column-mapping screen.
Amounts and their direction
- Debit and credit columns must be merged into one signed Amount: credit minus debit. A debit of 4.50 becomes -4.50 and a credit of 2500.00 stays 2500.00.
- Xero's own rule: One signed Amount column for both income and expenses. Income is positive; expenses are negative, written with a leading minus sign or in brackets, for example -30.00 or (30.00). Commas must not be used as the decimal mark.
- How sure the direction is: it is inferred from the role the open-source importer gives the column; no sample row confirms it. Compare two rows you recognise with the preview before importing; the converter has a switch that flips the sign of every amount.
Other Xero import rules
- Only the Date and Amount fields are needed to create bank statement lines.
- Payee is recommended; if the payee is an existing contact, the name must match the contact name exactly to avoid duplicates.
Before and after: an invented example
Invented sample data. These four rows were made up for this page. They are not from a real Macquarie Bank export and hold no real account, name or balance.
The source gives column positions only, so the headings below are the column number and what the column holds, not the bank's header text. The 3 unused columns of the file are left out of the table.
| 1: transaction date | 2: description | 3: account or card identifier | 4: category | 6: memo or note | 7: money out (debit) | 8: money in (credit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04 Mar 2024 | COFFEE CORNER MAIN ST | 0000 | Eating out | Card purchase | 4.50 | |
| 05 Mar 2024 | PAYROLL EXAMPLE CO | 0000 | Income | Salary March | 2500.00 | |
| 07 Mar 2024 | RENT MARCH | 0000 | Housing | Standing order | 1234.56 | |
| 11 Mar 2024 | REFUND EXAMPLE SHOP | 0000 | Shopping | Refund | 15.25 |
| Date | Amount | Payee | Description | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04/03/2024 | -4.50 | COFFEE CORNER MAIN ST - Card purchase | ||
| 05/03/2024 | 2500.00 | PAYROLL EXAMPLE CO - Salary March | ||
| 07/03/2024 | -1234.56 | RENT MARCH - Standing order | ||
| 11/03/2024 | 15.25 | REFUND EXAMPLE SHOP - Refund |
Do it by hand in a spreadsheet, free
These steps need no tool from this site. The cell references follow the column positions of the profile above; if your spreadsheet uses semicolons between formula arguments, replace the commas.
- Open the Macquarie Bank CSV in a spreadsheet program through its import dialog. Set the date column (column 1) to Text so the program does not reinterpret it, and leave the amount columns as numbers.
- Row 1 is the header and the transactions start in row 2.
- Date: rewrite column A from DD Mon YYYY to DD/MM/YYYY (04 Mar 2024 becomes 04/03/2024). This bank's dates do not have a fixed width, so a position formula is not reliable: split the column into its parts (Text to Columns, or the split function of your spreadsheet) and join them again in the new order.
- Amounts: merge the two columns into one signed Amount, credit minus debit:
=ABS(H2)-ABS(G2)An empty cell counts as zero. Money out comes out negative. - Text columns: fill Payee (left empty: the bank file has no payee column); Description (from column 2 and column 6); Reference (left empty: the bank file has no reference column). Where several bank columns feed one column, join them with a separator such as " - ".
- Apply Xero's own rules from its help page: Only the Date and Amount fields are needed to create bank statement lines. Payee is recommended; if the payee is an existing contact, the name must match the contact name exactly to avoid duplicates.
- Keep only the new columns, put the header row Date,Amount,Payee,Description,Reference on top, save the sheet as a comma-separated CSV, and compare the dates, the direction of the amounts and the number of rows with your statement in Xero's import preview.
Or use the converter
Load the file, choose the Macquarie Bank profile in the bank list and the target Xero, read the preview, then download. The conversion runs locally in your browser: the file is not uploaded, and only the licence key is sent for unlocking.
Paid profile. The free manual column mapper works for any bank, this one included, but the free version writes only the first 25 converted rows of a file. The 9 USD one-time licence adds the ready-made Macquarie Bank profile (one of the 35 paid profiles) and removes the 25-row limit. The column table on this page is free to read and can be used to fill in the manual mapper.
Where this layout comes from
No bank supplied or approved this layout. It was copied on 5 October 2026 from a public open-source importer file kept by volunteers: firefly-iii/import-configurations, file au/macquarie/default.json
The lines used from the source: "headers": true, "date": "d M Y", roles: date_transaction, description, account-name, category-name, _ignore, note, amount_debit, amount_credit, _ignore, _ignore
The Xero rules come from the vendor's own help pages: central.xero.com/s/article/Import-a-CSV-bank-statement (named as text, not linked). The official page refuses automated fetches (HTTP 403 or a script-only page), so the rules were read from web search excerpts of that same official URL on the checked date. Re-check in a browser before relying on a detail.
Bank formats change. Banks alter their CSV exports without notice and vendors change their import rules, so this mapping can be out of date. If the preview looks wrong, use the manual column mapper.
Related pages
Macquarie Bank to other apps
The Macquarie Bank guides for YNAB, QuickBooks Online and Wave, in the bank list