You can import a balance history into an account in Monarch, allowing you to build a more complete financial picture. You can import years of data at once — or just a few months if you’re filling in missing history.

This tool is especially helpful when you’re first setting up Monarch and want to backfill historical balances. For example, if you’ve had an account with Bank of America for five years but only three months of history were imported automatically, you can export the full balance history from your bank and import it to Monarch.

Tip: Each file must contain unique dates. If duplicate dates are found, the importer will show an error message prompting you to fix them before continuing.

NOTE: Balance imports are designed to fill in past data and do not support future-dated balances.

Importing Account Balances

You can import balance histories for multiple accounts at once by importing one CSV file per account. Each file contains dated balance entries for that specific account. You’ll then assign each file to its corresponding Monarch account. The importer guides you through assigning each file to the correct account.

1. On web, navigate to Accounts and click "+ Add Account" in the top right.
2. Click "Import transaction & balance history."
3. Choose "Import balances."
4. Import one CSV file per account (you can select multiple CSV files).
5. Assign each file to the correct Monarch account or create a new one.
6. Click "Next" to review and finish the process.  

**Duplicate dates or missing headers will trigger clear error messages before import.

Tip: If you are receiving a "File too large" error, see our "Importing Large CSV Files" article for more information. Additionally, if you start the import from a specific account’s detail page, the account is already selected for you.

NOTE: You can also access the import process by starting from a specific account's details page and clicking Edit, then selecting Import balance history.

CSV Format

Each CSV must contain at least these two columns:

• Date — The date of each balance snapshot
• Balance — The balance amount for that date

You will be prompted to assign each CSV column to match the Monarch columns.

Account name is not required in the file. You’ll assign each file to a Monarch account during the import process.

The importer validates your file automatically and will alert you if any required fields are missing or if duplicate dates are found.

Download a sample template here. 

When importing balances for liability accounts (e.g., mortgages, loans, credit cards), enter negative values with a “-” in front of the number or parentheses.  Example: –150000 or (150000) for a mortgage.