A bank statement is a record, not a budget. Its value is showing what happened so you can decide what should happen next.
Check the account and statement period
Confirm the account name, masked number, opening and closing dates, and opening and closing balances. If you compare several statements, use complete periods so a payday or bill is not counted twice or omitted.
Separate credits, debits and transfers
Credits usually add to the account and debits reduce it, but labels vary. Transfers between your own accounts should be paired before you treat them as income or spending. Refunds also need attention because they reverse part of an earlier expense.
Find recurring merchants and fees
Look for similar descriptions at weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly or annual intervals. Record the amount, due timing and whether it is fixed. Check account fees, interest and subscription renewals separately because they are easy to overlook.
Normalise messy merchant names
Statement descriptions can include location codes, payment processors or reference numbers. Rename the budget entry to something you will recognise while preserving the original source in notes or the import record where available.
Use categories after the transaction is understood
A supermarket can contain groceries, medicine and household supplies. A statement only sees the merchant total; a receipt can provide deeper allocation. Use the level of detail that answers your budgeting question.
Review imported rows before saving
PDF extraction and CSV mapping can make mistakes. Check signs, decimal separators, dates, duplicate references and the opening period. Keep the original bank document as the authoritative record.