diff --git a/rattail/excel.py b/rattail/excel.py
index c1a299df67121512e205ac774d911c9039883e05..6a21e418a295ddee5ea0564d4a558da222abb9fb 100644
--- a/rattail/excel.py
+++ b/rattail/excel.py
@@ -44,13 +44,22 @@ class ExcelReader(object):
     Basic class for reading Excel files.
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, path, sheet=0, sheet_name=None, header=0, datefmt='%Y-%m-%d', strip_fieldnames=True):
+    def __init__(self, path, sheet=0, sheet_name=None, header=0,
+                 first_data_row=None,
+                 datefmt='%Y-%m-%d', strip_fieldnames=True):
         """
         Constructor; opens an Excel file for reading.
 
         :param header: Which row should be used as the header, i.e. to
            determine field (column) names.  This is a zero-based index, so is 0
            by default (i.e. the first row).
+
+        :param first_data_row: Which is the first row to contain data.  If not
+           specified, it will be assumed that data rows begin immediately after
+           the header row, as defined by :param:`header`.  This again is
+           zero-based, so if the very first row is the true header, but then
+           there is another "header" row also, you might specify a value of
+           ``2`` here, since the 3rd row is the first to contain data.
         """
         self.book = xlrd.open_workbook(path)
         if sheet_name is not None:
@@ -58,6 +67,10 @@ class ExcelReader(object):
         else:
             self.sheet = self.book.sheet_by_index(sheet)
         self.header = header
+        if first_data_row is not None:
+            self.first_data_row = first_data_row
+        else:
+            self.first_data_row = self.header + 1
         self.fields = self.sheet.row_values(self.header)
         if strip_fieldnames:
             self.fields = [field.strip() for field in self.fields]
@@ -75,7 +88,7 @@ class ExcelReader(object):
                          for j, value in enumerate(values)])
             rows.append(data)
 
-        progress_loop(append, range(self.header + 1, self.sheet.nrows), progress,
+        progress_loop(append, range(self.first_data_row, self.sheet.nrows), progress,
                       message="Reading data from Excel file")
         return rows