The short answer
The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) file has 8 columns, dates written as M/D/YYYY and one signed amount column. 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 Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) 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 Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) CSV looks like
- Country: Canada.
- Account type: account statement (the account type is a column in the file).
- Header row: yes, one row before the first transaction.
- Columns: 8, separated by commas.
- Date format: M/D/YYYY, for example 3/4/2024 (the source writes it as n/j/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 prints it, so the columns below carry their real names.
Note kept with this layout in the profile data: The header names are the French labels listed in the source readme; an export made with the English interface carries English labels in the same positions, so match by position. Month and day have no leading zero. Column 7 is the amount in Canadian dollars, column 8 the amount in US dollars.
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 Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) file |
|---|---|---|
| Date | required | column 3 "Date de l'opération" |
| Amount | required | column 7 "CAD" |
| Payee | optional | left empty: the bank file has no payee column |
| Description | optional | column 5 "Description 1" and column 6 "Description 2" |
| Reference | optional | column 4 "Numéro du chèque" |
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 Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) 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 | Type de compte | Not used | Not copied |
| 2 | Numéro du compte | Account or card identifier | Not copied |
| 3 | Date de l'opération | Transaction date | Date, rewritten as DD/MM/YYYY |
| 4 | Numéro du chèque | Reference or check number | Reference |
| 5 | Description 1 | Description | Description |
| 6 | Description 2 | Description | Description |
| 7 | CAD | Amount, signed (negative is money out) | Amount, sign kept (money out is negative) |
| 8 | USD | Not used | Not copied |
Pitfalls for Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) to Xero
Dates
- The date must be reordered. The bank file is written month first, then day, then year (M/D/YYYY, for example 3/4/2024). The Xero file is written day first, then month, then year (DD/MM/YYYY, for example 04/03/2024). This is the mistake that does not show: 3/4/2024 is 4 Mar in the bank file, and read the other way round it is 3 Apr. Days from 13 to 31 fail loudly, days from 1 to 12 swap silently.
- 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
- Both sides use one signed amount column where money out is negative, so the sign is kept as it is.
- 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 Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) export and hold no real account, name or balance.
The column headings are the header text the source prints. The 2 unused columns of the file are left out of the table.
| 2: Numéro du compte | 3: Date de l'opération | 4: Numéro du chèque | 5: Description 1 | 6: Description 2 | 7: CAD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0000 | 3/4/2024 | S0001 | COFFEE CORNER MAIN ST | -4.50 | |
| 0000 | 3/5/2024 | S0002 | PAYROLL EXAMPLE CO | 2500.00 | |
| 0000 | 3/7/2024 | S0003 | RENT MARCH | -1234.56 | |
| 0000 | 3/11/2024 | S0004 | REFUND EXAMPLE SHOP | 15.25 |
| Date | Amount | Payee | Description | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04/03/2024 | -4.50 | COFFEE CORNER MAIN ST | S0001 | |
| 05/03/2024 | 2500.00 | PAYROLL EXAMPLE CO | S0002 | |
| 07/03/2024 | -1234.56 | RENT MARCH | S0003 | |
| 11/03/2024 | 15.25 | REFUND EXAMPLE SHOP | S0004 |
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 Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) CSV in a spreadsheet program through its import dialog. Set the date column (column 3 "Date de l'opération") 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 C from M/D/YYYY to DD/MM/YYYY (3/4/2024 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: column G is already signed the way Xero wants (money out negative). Copy it as it is.
- Text columns: fill Payee (left empty: the bank file has no payee column); Description (from column 5 "Description 1" and column 6 "Description 2"); Reference (from column 4 "Numéro du chèque"). 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 Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) 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 Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) 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/rbc/default.json
Also read: firefly-iii/import-configurations, file ca/rbc/readme.md
The lines used from the source: "headers": true, "date": "n/j/Y", roles: _ignore, account-number, date_transaction, _ignore, description, description, amount, _ignore ; readme: "The date of transactions is expected in the n/j/Y format (month/day/year)."
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
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) to other apps
The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) guides for YNAB, QuickBooks Online and Wave, in the bank list