Should I send my accountant the expense summary as PDF or CSV?

What the CSV contains, exactly

We downloaded the summary from the Expense summary generator tool for its standard example: shipping, packaging and ads in SAR, and shipping in AED. This is the file as it came from the English page:

Section,Group,Currency,Total,Entries Total per currency,,AED,45.25,1 Total per currency,,SAR,500.50,3 By month,2026-01,SAR,200.50,2 By month,2026-02,AED,45.25,1 By month,2026-02,SAR,300.00,1 By category,Ads,SAR,300.00,1 By category,Packaging,SAR,80.00,1 By category,Shipping,AED,45.25,1 By category,Shipping,SAR,120.50,1

Five fixed columns, and every line carries exactly one currency. A final note line says currencies are never added together and that any converted amount uses the exchange rates you typed. That layout suits an accountant: filter the Section column to 'By category' and the category table is ready.

When the PDF is better

• When the summary is the record of a closed month that should stay exactly as it is, with no figure changed by accident on opening.
• When it goes as an email attachment, gets printed and signed, or is shown to a partner who does not use Excel.
• When you want Arabic category names to display correctly on any device without worrying about encoding.

The PDF shows the same sections as titled tables, with the entry count and the currencies present in its header, and the tool tells you its page count and size before you download.

Four things to check before sending

1. The file's language follows the page: section labels are in Arabic if you download from the Arabic page. If your accountant works in English, switch to the English version of the tool and download from there.
2. The BOM option is on by default so Excel shows Arabic correctly. Turn it off only if your accountant says their software rejects the file.
3. If you added a conversion to one currency, both files carry an extra section with the converted lines and each currency's rate, labelled as your own rates.
4. The summary holds no individual entries or notes. If the accountant asks about one transaction, it lives in your original file, not the summary.

When your accountant wants both, send both: the PDF to review and the CSV to key in. And remember the tool only summarises; it does not calculate tax or classify expenses for accounting purposes, which is your accountant's job.