The short answer
The Starling Bank file has 7 columns, dates written as DD/MM/YYYY and one signed amount column. The CSV written for Xero has the columns Date,Amount,Payee,Description,Reference. 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 Starling 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 Starling Bank CSV looks like
- Country: United Kingdom.
- Account type: not stated by source (config file is named default).
- Header row: yes, one row before the first transaction.
- Columns: 7, separated by commas.
- Date format: DD/MM/YYYY, for example 04/03/2024 (the source writes it as d/m/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: The csv2ofx mapping reads these header names from a Starling export: Date, Counter Party, Reference, Amount (GBP). It does not give the full header row.
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 Starling Bank file |
|---|---|---|
| Date | required | column 1 |
| Amount | required | column 5 |
| Payee | optional | column 2 |
| Description | optional | column 3 |
| 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 Starling 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 | Payee or counterparty | Payee |
| 3 | not given by the source | Description | Description |
| 4 | not given by the source | Tag or type label | Not copied |
| 5 | not given by the source | Amount, signed (negative is money out) | Amount, sign kept (money out is negative) |
| 6 | not given by the source | Not used | Not copied |
| 7 | not given by the source | Category | Not copied |
Pitfalls for Starling Bank to Xero
Dates
- Same date layout on both sides: the bank file and the Xero file both use DD/MM/YYYY. No reordering is needed.
- 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 Starling 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 1 unused column of the file is left out of the table.
| 1: transaction date | 2: payee or counterparty | 3: description | 4: tag or type label | 5: amount | 7: category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04/03/2024 | Coffee Corner | COFFEE CORNER MAIN ST | sample | -4.50 | Eating out |
| 05/03/2024 | Example Co | PAYROLL EXAMPLE CO | sample | 2500.00 | Income |
| 07/03/2024 | Sample Landlord | RENT MARCH | sample | -1234.56 | Housing |
| 11/03/2024 | Example Shop | REFUND EXAMPLE SHOP | sample | 15.25 | Shopping |
| Date | Amount | Payee | Description | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04/03/2024 | -4.50 | Coffee Corner | COFFEE CORNER MAIN ST | |
| 05/03/2024 | 2500.00 | Example Co | PAYROLL EXAMPLE CO | |
| 07/03/2024 | -1234.56 | Sample Landlord | RENT MARCH | |
| 11/03/2024 | 15.25 | Example Shop | REFUND EXAMPLE SHOP |
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 Starling 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: the bank already writes DD/MM/YYYY, which is what the Xero file uses. Copy column A as it is.
- Amounts: column E is already signed the way Xero wants (money out negative). Copy it as it is.
- Text columns: fill Payee (from column 2); Description (from column 3); 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 Starling 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 Starling 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 gb/starling/default.json
Also read: reubano/csv2ofx, file csv2ofx/mappings/starling.py
The lines used from the source: "headers": true, "date": "d/m/Y", roles: date_transaction, opposing-name, description, tags-comma, amount, _ignore, category-name
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
Starling Bank to other apps
The Starling Bank guides for YNAB, QuickBooks Online and Wave, in the bank list