Appendix FM financial-requirement cases turn on two things: the income level and the evidence trail proving it. Caseworkers cross-check employer letters and payslips against bank credits across the full qualifying period — six or twelve months depending on the route — and any month where the credit is missing, short, or from an unexpected payer invites refusal. Converted to Excel, every credit sorts by payer, amount, and month, making gaps visible before submission rather than after a decision.
Consistency beats totals. Salaried applicants need matching payer patterns each month; self-employed applicants need business income traceable through business and personal accounts with transfers clearly separated from real earnings. A salary-like versus business-like column in the converted file documents exactly that distinction, with month-by-month tables a representative can cite in a cover letter.
Cash savings routes need the opposite proof: stable or growing balances held for the full period, with no large unexplained deposits near the end. Minimum, maximum, and month-end balance trends across the whole window show the requirement was met continuously, not assembled last-minute.
Organise the bundle before paying the fee. Convert every statement to Excel with the Bank Statement Converter for a paginated, searchable record, with every balance already reconciled before the Home Office adds it up.