Certibal user guide

This guide walks you from opening Certibal to downloading your PDF report, and also explains bank reconciliation. It is written for accountants and for anyone who prepares financial reports for a business.

Button, section and field names appear highlighted like this, exactly as they look in Certibal in English.

Before you start

Certibal is a business financial diagnostic tool. You import an accounting report from your accounting system and get income, expenses, profit, financial ratios, a budget, 5- and 10-year projections and a PDF report to support decisions.

What you need

• A web browser on a computer, tablet or phone.
• An accounting report exported from your system, as CSV, Excel or a PDF with text (Step 2 explains how it should look).
• Recommended: the balances of your balance sheet and cash flow statement (Step 6). Without them, the liquidity, solvency, inventory and cash flow ratios cannot be calculated.

Overview: the 9-step journey

This is the whole path. Each step is explained in detail below; you can jump to any of them from the index.

Besides the main app there are two more tools: bank reconciliation and Certibal Learn, the chart of accounts. They are explained at the end.

Step 1 · Set the program, currency and language

When you open certibal.com you will see three selectors at the top. Choose them before importing.

1. In Source program choose the accounting system your report comes from. A note under the selector changes with the program and explains which report to export. If you are not sure, leave Auto-detect.
2. In Currency choose the currency of your report. Options: US dollar (US$), Eastern Caribbean dollar (EC$), Jamaican dollar (J$), Trinidad and Tobago dollar (TT$), Barbados dollar (Bds$), Bahamian dollar (B$), Dominican peso (RD$), Panamanian balboa (B/.), Costa Rican colón (CRC), Mexican peso (MX$), Colombian peso (COL$), Peruvian sol (S/), Chilean peso (CLP$), Euro (€), Haitian gourde (G), No symbol.
3. In Idioma / Language choose Español, English or Français. The screen, the ratios and the PDF switch to the chosen language.

What each “Source program” option does

Step 2 · Prepare the report you will import

Certibal recognizes three kinds of report. Usually you only need the one your program exports most easily.

Kind A · Transaction list (the most complete)

A CSV or Excel file with one line per transaction and these columns: Date, Account, Type (optional) and Amount (or, instead of Amount, Debit (optional) and Credit (optional)).

• Type can be Ingreso (income), Gasto (expense) or Costo (cost). If your file has no such column, positive amounts count as income and negative amounts as expenses.
• For the inventory and accounts payable ratios, mark your cost of sales with Tipo = Costo. Without it, those ratios have no basis.

Kind B · Profit and loss with one column per month

This is the classic income report: accounts in rows and months in columns, grouped into income, cost of sales and expenses. Certibal detects the months from the headers (for example “Jan 2026” or “2026-01”).

If the report has several months in a single column (for example “Jan–Dec 2026”), Certibal splits the total equally across the months and tells you so. To see the real month-by-month evolution, export with one column per month.

Kind C · Detail by account

A report where each account is a heading and its transactions sit below with date and amount (or debit and credit), such as the profit and loss detail or the transaction detail by account. Certibal groups the transactions and says so with a message such as “N transactions were grouped into M income, cost and expense accounts”.

Tips for any kind

• Include every month available, ideally 12 months or more (one of the automatic controls checks this) and, if you can, prior years for comparison.
• In Excel, if the workbook has several sheets, Certibal uses the one with the most data.
• For PDF, use only files generated by your program (with text). A scanned PDF or a photo cannot be read. Always check that the totals match the original.
• In QuickBooks: open a profit and loss report by month, or a transaction detail report, for the period you want to analyze, export it to Excel or CSV and check that it has the columns above.

Step 3 · Try the sample first

Press View example. Certibal loads three years of sample data (January 2024 to August 2026, with eight accounts) and fills the Step 6 balances with fictitious figures. You can walk through every section without using real information.

Step 4 · Import your report

1. Press Import CSV, Excel or PDF.
2. Choose the file on your device.
3. Read the note under the selectors: it tells you what Certibal detected (transaction list, report by month, account detail or a balance sheet).
4. Check that the results sections appear (Step 5).

If Certibal does not understand the columns

The Adjust file columns panel opens. Indicate which column of your file holds each piece of data:

Also choose the Date format: Automatic, Month/day/year or Day/month/year. If the months come out swapped (for example 03/04 read as March 4 instead of April 3), this setting fixes it. Finish with Apply columns.

If Certibal skips rows it could not interpret, it tells you with a message (“N row(s) that I could not interpret were skipped”). Check that nothing important is missing.

Step 5 · Read the results for the period

At the top are four indicators: Income, Expenses, Net profit and Margin. Below, four sections:

To compare years you need more than one year of data; if you upload only one, the app tells you.

Step 6 · Add the Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Statement

The Financial statements (input data) section completes the analysis. Take them from your accounting system’s reports; the flows must correspond to the same period as the Step 4 report.

Two ways to load them

1. Import a file. Press Import balance sheet or Import cash flow statement and choose a CSV, Excel or text PDF. Certibal looks up the accounts by name and fills in the fields. When done it shows a message such as “Balance sheet: 8 of 10 fields completed. Missing: … Complete them by hand”.
2. Type them by hand. Each field is a numeric box; type the balance and the ratios recalculate instantly. What you type is saved in that browser.

Step 7 · Interpret financial health, ratios, sector comparison and controls

Financial health

The Financial health section shows an overall rating and one for each of the five areas (liquidity, inventory and activity, solvency, profitability and cash flow). Each appears as Good, Attention or Risk, with its “Score from 0 to 2”: from 1.5 it is Good, from 0.8 it is Attention and below 0.8 it is Risk. Below, a text summarizes strengths and areas to strengthen. If balances are missing you will see No data and “Complete the balances”.

The 28 ratios

In Ratios: liquidity, inventory, solvency, profitability and cash flow tap each ratio to see its formula and rationale. The colored dot shows whether the value is in the healthy, attention or risk zone; ratios without a threshold have no color. Income and expense ratios use annualized figures and flow ratios use the whole period.

Sector comparison

1. In Ratio comparison by sector choose your Sector: Retail, Manufacturing, Professional services, Restaurants and hospitality, Construction, Technology and software, Healthcare.
2. The table compares 10 ratios of your business with a reference: Current ratio, Quick ratio, Debt ratio, Net margin, Return on assets (ROA), Return on equity (ROE), Days of collection, Days of inventory, Total asset turnover, Interest coverage.
3. The Reading column says In line (within 10% of the reference), Better than sector or Below sector.
4. Every value in the Reference column is editable: replace it with data from your sector (sector chamber, RMA, Damodaran or others). Your references are saved in that browser.

Accounting compliance and controls

Compliance and accounting controls combines two things. First, six automatic controls with status Compliant, Review or Pending (when data is missing):

• Accounting equation: Assets = Liabilities + Equity
• Current assets + fixed assets do not exceed total assets
• Cash + accounts receivable + inventory do not exceed current assets
• Period of at least 12 months (annual comparability)
• All file rows were interpreted without omissions
• Cash flow with its three activities

Second, a Checklist (check it yourself) of eight points that you tick yourself; your ticks are saved and appear in the PDF:

• Accrual basis: income and expenses recorded in the period in which they occur
• Double entry and bank reconciliations up to date
• Accounting policies documented and applied consistently
• Statements presented with prior-period comparatives
• Doubtful accounts and obsolete inventory estimated and reviewed
• Depreciation calculated according to each asset's useful life
• Notes and disclosures to the statements prepared
• Review or audit by an independent accountant (if applicable)

It is a control guide based on IFRS and US GAAP principles (accrual, going concern, consistency and comparability). It is not an audit or a certification.

Step 8 · Budget, projections and scenarios

Next year’s budget

1. In Budget for next year type the Income growth (%) you expect (default 5). For +8%, type 8.
2. Type the Expense change (%) (default 3). A negative value represents a cut.
3. Read the monthly table (Month, Income, Expenses, Profit and Ending cash) and then Budgeted balance and ratios: Budgeted net margin, accounts receivable, inventory and accounts payable at year end, working capital and current ratio.

• Seasonality comes from your historical months: each month starts from the average of that same month in your data.
• Accounts receivable grow with the income percentage; inventory and accounts payable, with the expense percentage.
• Cash starts from the “Efectivo y equivalentes” balance and adds profit and depreciation and subtracts capex. It does not include debt payments or taxes. Without the Step 6 balances, cash and the budgeted balance sheet show as “—”.

5- and 10-year projection

1. In Projection to 5 and 10 years type the Income growth (% per year) (default 5), the Expense growth (% per year) (4) and the Variation between scenarios (% points) (3).
2. Choose the scenario with the Pessimistic, Base and Optimistic buttons. The year-by-year table shows Income, Expenses, Profit and Profit var., with years 5 and 10 highlighted.
3. Look at Scenario comparison: Year 5 profit, Year 10 profit and Year 10 margin for the three cases.

How the scenarios are built. Base uses your percentages as they are. Pessimistic subtracts the variation points from income growth and adds them to expense growth; Optimistic does the opposite. Example with 5 / 4 / 3: Base = income +5% and expenses +4%; Pessimistic = income +2% and expenses +7%; Optimistic = income +8% and expenses +1%.

Step 9 · Download the PDF report

The Report for decisions section generates a PDF with an executive summary, points of attention, year comparison, ratios and projections.

1. If you wish, type the business name in Company (optional).
2. Type who prepared it in Prepared by (optional).
3. Choose the language and currency first: the PDF comes out in the language you have selected.
4. Press Download PDF report.

What the PDF contains

• Executive summary
• Points of attention
• Monthly trend
• Current year vs. previous years and same period
• Financial health
• Financial ratios
• Sector comparison
• Accounting compliance and controls (with your checklist)
• Next year’s budget
• 5- and 10-year projection and detail of the chosen scenario
• Assumptions and limitations
• Responsibility and signatures

If you see the notice “The PDF generator could not be loaded. Check your connection and try again”, connect to the internet and repeat: the generator is downloaded the first time.

Bank reconciliation

It opens from Bank reconciliation (top right) or at certibal.com/conciliacion. It compares the bank statement with the bank register from your accounting system, matches the transactions, calculates the reconciliation statement and suggests the adjusting entries. It works with files: it does not connect to your bank. It has its own Language and Currency selectors.

1. Reconciliation details

Fill in: Bank account, From, To (cut-off date), Ending balance per bank, Ending balance per books, Date tolerance (days) (default 5, from 0 to 31) and Date format (Automatic, Day/month/year or Month/day/year).

• If a balance is left empty, it is taken from the file when it has a balance column. Book entries before the period are also checked as open items.
• Date tolerance is how many days of difference matching allows between a bank date and a book date (a check is recorded one day and the bank cashes it days later).

2. Files

1. On the Bank statement card press Import CSV, Excel, PDF or OFX and choose the file (download it from online banking: CSV, Excel, PDF with text or OFX/QFX/QBO).
2. On the Bank register (books) card do the same with the bank account register or ledger exported from your accounting system.
3. Each card confirms how many transactions it read (“N transactions read from file”). If it does not recognize them, open Adjust columns and assign Date, Description, Reference / No., Amount (signed) (signed) or Money in and Money out, and Balance; then Apply.
4. Press Reconcile. If you want to practice first, use View example; Clear wipes everything and starts over.

3. How Certibal matches

Automatic matching runs in four passes, from the most certain to the least certain. Each pair is recorded with the rule used:

4. Read the result

• Indicators: Auto-matched, Open items, Difference and Average days in transit.
• Reconciliation statement: on the bank side, Balance per bank (+) Deposits in transit (−) Outstanding checks and payments = Adjusted bank balance; on the books side, Balance per books (+) Unrecorded bank credits (−) Unrecorded bank charges = Adjusted book balance. The two adjusted balances must agree: you will see “Reconciled: the difference is zero.” or “Unexplained difference of X. Review balances, items and possible errors.”.
• Items to reconcile: two tables, In the bank, not in the books and In the books, not in the bank. Each item carries a classification (Bank fees and charges; Interest earned; Interest charged; Returned check; Unrecorded direct credit; Unrecorded direct debit; Deposit in transit; Outstanding check or payment) and, where applicable, a flag: Over 180 days: possibly stale check, Possible duplicate or Possible error.
• Matched (expandable): lists the pairs with the rule used and an Undo button to separate them.
• Suggested adjusting entries: table with Description, Debit, Credit and Amount (for example, fees: debit Bank charges expense, credit Bank). They are suggestions: review them before posting.

5. Transaction evaluation and monitoring

• Indicators: Money in, Money out, Net flow and Transactions; tables Bank transactions by month, Bank transactions by type and Aging of open book items (0–30, 31–60, 61–90, 91–180 and over 180 days).
• Alerts to review: possible duplicates, unusual amounts, large round amounts, missing check numbers, the weight of fees in outflows, items older than 90 days and possible recording errors (if the difference is divisible by 9, it warns of possible transposed digits).

6. History and reports

• Save to history stores a summary (account, period, difference, % matched, open items and status) in this browser, up to 100 reconciliations; Delete removes one.
• Download PDF report generates the report with the reconciliation statement, open items, suggested entries, alerts, evaluation and matched pairs, with room for “Prepared by” and “Reviewed by” (name, signature and date).
• Export to Excel delivers an Excel workbook with one sheet for each part.

If something fails you will see messages such as “Load the bank statement and the book register.”, “This PDF looks like a scanned image with no text. Use CSV, Excel or OFX.” or “Could not read transactions with date and amount. Adjust the columns.”.

Certibal Learn: chart of accounts

From Learn: chart of accounts explained or at certibal.com/aprende you will find a catalog of 108 explained ledger accounts, designed for people who are starting out.

• Filter by tabs: All, Assets, Liabilities, Equity, Income, Costs and Expenses.
• Use the search field to find an account by name or code.
• Each account shows its code, its Spanish name with English and French translations, and its nature: debit or credit.
• Open any account to read its detailed explanation.

The page introduction explains what each nature means and what contra-accounts are.

Common problems

Good practices and limits

• Always compare Certibal’s figures with your original report before presenting them to a client.
• Replace the sector references with real data from your industry.
• Use the budget and projections as planning support, not as a sure forecast.
• Certibal analyzes the data you import. It does not replace an audit or the professional judgment of a certified public accountant.

Need help?

Write to us at info@certibal.com.