Post bank statement transactions to QuickBooks Online using OpenRouter AI

✅ What problem does this workflow solve?

Manually entering bank statements into QuickBooks is one of the most time-consuming and error-prone accounting tasks. Accountants often spend hours converting PDF bank statements into individual income and expense entries—risking missed transactions, incorrect categorization, and inconsistencies.

This workflow fully automates the end-to-end process: from uploading a (even password-protected) bank statement PDF to creating accurate Sales Receipts and Expenses directly inside QuickBooks, using AI and n8n.

⚙️ What does this workflow do?

• Accepts bank statement PDFs via a secure web form
• Decrypts and extracts text from password-protected PDFs
• Uses AI to extract structured transactions from raw statement text
• Validates AI output against a strict JSON schema
• Processes each transaction individually for reliability
• Automatically routes transactions based on type:
  • Credits → Income (Sales Receipts)
  • Debits → Expenses
• Intelligently creates missing QuickBooks entities:
  • Customers
  • Vendors
  • Items
  • Expense categories
• Posts transactions directly into QuickBooks
• Eliminates manual accounting entry completely

🧠 How It Works – End-to-End Flow

1️⃣ Secure Bank Statement Upload

A user uploads a bank statement PDF (normal or password-protected) using an n8n Form Trigger.

2️⃣ PDF Decryption & Text Extraction

The workflow:

• Unlocks the PDF (if password-protected)
• Extracts the full statement text using the Extract PDF Text node

3️⃣ AI-Powered Transaction Extraction

An AI Agent reads the raw bank statement text and extracts every transaction with high precision:

• Transaction type (credit / debit)
• Date (YYYY-MM-DD)`
• Amount
• Description
• Reference number
• Payee / counterparty

4️⃣ Strict JSON Validation

AI output is validated using a Structured Output Parser to ensure:

• No malformed data
• Schema-safe transactions
• Reliable downstream processing

5️⃣ Transaction Processing Loop

Each transaction is processed individually using batching and loop control to guarantee accuracy.

6️⃣ Smart Routing: Credit vs Debit

A switch node routes transactions automatically:

• Credits → Income flow
• Debits → Expense flow

💰 Credit Path – Income Automation

For every credit transaction:

• Checks if a matching QuickBooks item exists
• Creates missing service items automatically
• Finds or creates the customer
• Builds a Sales Receipt payload
• Posts the transaction into QuickBooks as income

💸 Debit Path – Expense Automation

For every debit transaction:

• Searches for the vendor by payee name
• Creates the vendor if missing
• Loads expense categories from the Chart of Accounts
• Auto-maps transactions to the correct category using keyword logic
• Builds a Purchase (Expense) payload
• Posts the expense into QuickBooks

🧠 Built-In QuickBooks Intelligence

This workflow intelligently handles:

• Duplicate prevention
• Missing customer/vendor creation
• Automatic item mapping
• Category resolution using transaction descriptions
• Consistent accounting structure across all entries

📊 Results & Benefits

✅ Zero manual bank statement entry
✅ Works with password-protected PDFs
✅ Handles both income and expenses automatically
✅ Creates clean, structured QuickBooks records
✅ Saves dozens of accounting hours every month
✅ Reduces human error and reconciliation issues

🔧 Setup Requirements

1. Connect your QuickBooks Online account (Sandbox or Production)
2. Add OpenRouter / AI model credentials for transaction extraction
3. Update the PDF password (if required) in the extraction node
4. Replace company_id in QuickBooks API endpoints
5. Verify QuickBooks account IDs (bank, income, expense)
6. Test with a sample bank statement PDF

👤 Who is this for?

This workflow is ideal for:

• 📒 Accountants & bookkeeping firms
• 🏢 Businesses managing frequent bank statements
• 💼 Finance teams using QuickBooks Online
• 🤖 Automation-first accounting systems