diff --git a/src/caosadvancedtools/table_importer.py b/src/caosadvancedtools/table_importer.py
index 9e4290757df8546fb8672e3aa294a48cde6cab0d..55b1d1a1c67c01038b2946ae38928adc229012ae 100755
--- a/src/caosadvancedtools/table_importer.py
+++ b/src/caosadvancedtools/table_importer.py
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ class XLSImporter(object):
         self.unique_keys = [] if unique_keys is None else unique_keys
         self.converters = converters
 
-    def read_xls(self, filename):
+    def read_xls(self, filename, **kwargs):
         """
         converts an xls file into a Pandas DataFrame.
 
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ class XLSImporter(object):
                 "All but the first are being ignored.".format(filename))
 
         try:
-            df = xls_file.parse(converters=self.converters)
+            df = xls_file.parse(converters=self.converters, **kwargs)
         except Exception as e:
             logger.warning(
                 "Cannot parse {}.".format(filename),