The short answer
The American Express Canada file has 6 columns, dates written as MM/DD/YYYY and one signed amount column. The CSV written for Wave has the columns Date,Description,Amount. So the date is kept as it is, 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 American Express Canada 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 American Express Canada CSV looks like
- Country: Canada.
- Account type: card (type not stated by source).
- Header row: none. The first line is a transaction.
- Columns: 6, separated by commas.
- Date format: MM/DD/YYYY, for example 03/04/2024 (the source writes it as m/d/Y).
- Amounts: one signed amount column. 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: No header row. The sign comes only from the importer role; card exports often list purchases as positive, so the converter should ask the user to confirm the direction in the preview.
What Wave accepts
- File type: CSV.
- Header row: not stated in the excerpts read; the converter writes one.
- Required columns: Date, Description, Amount.
- Amounts: Three or four columns: date, description, and the amount either all in one column or one column each for deposits and withdrawals. For credit card statements, purchases must be positive and payments negative.
- Dates: MM/DD/YYYY.
| Wave column | Required by Wave | Filled from the American Express Canada file |
|---|---|---|
| Date | required | column 1 |
| Description | required | column 4 and column 5 |
| Amount | required | column 3 |
From a web search excerpt of the vendor's help page (the page itself refuses automated reading; re-check it in a browser): "To import properly, your CSV file must have three or four columns: date, amount of the transaction (all in one column, or one column each for deposits and withdrawals), and description."
Column-by-column mapping
Every column of the American Express Canada file, left to right, and where it ends up in the Wave file.
| Column | Header text | What it holds | Where it goes in the Wave file |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not given by the source | Transaction date | Date, rewritten as MM/DD/YYYY |
| 2 | not given by the source | Reference or check number | Not copied |
| 3 | not given by the source | Amount, signed (negative is money out) | Amount, sign kept (money out is negative) |
| 4 | not given by the source | Description | Description |
| 5 | not given by the source | Memo or note | Description, after the bank's description text |
| 6 | not given by the source | Not used | Not copied |
Pitfalls for American Express Canada to Wave
Dates
- Same date layout on both sides: the bank file and the Wave file both use MM/DD/YYYY. No reordering is needed.
- Wave on dates: MM/DD/YYYY. As stated by the vendor: the date column must be in MM/DD/YYYY format.
Amounts and their direction
- Both sides use one signed amount column where money out is negative, so the sign is kept as it is.
- Wave's own rule: Three or four columns: date, description, and the amount either all in one column or one column each for deposits and withdrawals. For credit card statements, purchases must be positive and payments negative.
- Card account in Wave: Wave asks for purchases as positive and payments as negative on a credit card statement, the opposite of the converter's default (money out negative). Use the converter's flip option when the file goes into a credit card account in Wave.
- 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.
Shape of the file
- The bank file has no header row: the first line is already a transaction. The Wave file starts with the header Date,Description,Amount.
Other Wave import rules
- Keep only the date, amount and description columns; delete any other columns.
- The description column can be empty, but if filled it must contain words, not only numbers.
- Remove special characters such as #, &, $ and * from the file.
- Files with more than 100 rows tend not to upload; split them into files of no more than 100 rows each.
Before and after: an invented example
Invented sample data. These four rows were made up for this page. They are not from a real American Express Canada 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 1 unused column of the file is left out of the table.
| 1: transaction date | 2: reference or check number | 3: amount | 4: description | 5: memo or note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03/04/2024 | S0001 | -4.50 | COFFEE CORNER MAIN ST | Card purchase |
| 03/05/2024 | S0002 | 2500.00 | PAYROLL EXAMPLE CO | Salary March |
| 03/07/2024 | S0003 | -1234.56 | RENT MARCH | Standing order |
| 03/11/2024 | S0004 | 15.25 | REFUND EXAMPLE SHOP | Refund |
| Date | Description | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 03/04/2024 | COFFEE CORNER MAIN ST - Card purchase | -4.50 |
| 03/05/2024 | PAYROLL EXAMPLE CO - Salary March | 2500.00 |
| 03/07/2024 | RENT MARCH - Standing order | -1234.56 |
| 03/11/2024 | REFUND EXAMPLE SHOP - Refund | 15.25 |
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 American Express Canada 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.
- The file has no header row: row 1 is already a transaction. Do not delete it.
- Date: the bank already writes MM/DD/YYYY, which is what the Wave file uses. Copy column A as it is.
- Amounts: column C is already signed the way Wave wants (money out negative). Copy it as it is.
- Text columns: fill Description (from column 4 and column 5). Where several bank columns feed one column, join them with a separator such as " - ".
- Apply Wave's own rules from its help page: Keep only the date, amount and description columns; delete any other columns. The description column can be empty, but if filled it must contain words, not only numbers. Remove special characters such as #, &, $ and * from the file. Files with more than 100 rows tend not to upload; split them into files of no more than 100 rows each.
- Keep only the new columns, put the header row Date,Description,Amount 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 Wave's import preview.
Or use the converter
Load the file, choose the American Express Canada profile in the bank list and the target Wave, 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 American Express Canada 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 ca/american-express/default.json
The lines used from the source: "headers": false, "date": "m/d/Y", roles: date_transaction, internal_reference, amount, description, note, _ignore
The Wave rules come from the vendor's own help pages: support.waveapps.com/hc/en-us/articles/208621626-Upload-a-bank-or-credit-card-statement-in-csv-format (named as text, not linked), support.waveapps.com/hc/en-us/articles/208622596 (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
American Express Canada to other apps
The American Express Canada guides for YNAB, QuickBooks Online and Xero, in the bank list