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Using Foreign Currencies

EasyBooks can handle foreign currency accounts and transactions. You may find this useful if:

  • You have bank accounts or investments in a foreign currency,
  • Suppliers invoice you in a foreign currency,
  • You have agreed with customers to invoice them in their own currency,
  • You want to keep track of exchange rate gains/losses.

A base currency can be set for each business you use in EasyBooks. This defines the currency of the business itself. All income and expense accounts are set to this currency automatically. Most other accounts can be set up to use a different currency. For example, you can add a new bank account and choose the currency. EasyBooks will then keep track of amounts in that currency.

Which currencies are supported?

EasyBooks handles over 150 world currencies, with exchange rates updated hourly. It also tracks Bitcoin (BTC) and some common commodities such as Gold (XAU) and Silver (XAG).

How do I choose which currency to use?

Each account can be set to use a particular currency in its Account Details. This can only be done before the account is referenced in transactions. Once the account contains transactions the currency is locked and can no longer be changed.

Which account categories are supported?

The following account categories support foreign currencies:

  • Bank accounts
  • Petty cash
  • Credit cards
  • Customers
  • Suppliers
  • Fixed assets
  • Debtors
  • Other assets and liabilities
  • Creditors
  • Investments
  • Prepayments
  • Accrual
  • Long-term liabilities

The following account categories do not support foreign currencies. Accounts in these categories are managed in the business currency.

  • Expenses (Direct, Indirect and Employee costs)
  • Income
  • VAT accounts
  • Equity accounts

How are exchange rate gains and losses handled

Details

As transactions are entered, the amounts for each currency are recorded. Typically there are gains or losses as time goes on because of variations in exchange rates. These divide into two types; realised and unrealised gains/losses.

Unrealised gains/losses

In the simplest case, you might transfer money from one bank account to another in a foreign currency. EasyBooks obtains the exchange rate for the date of the transaction and uses it to fill in the foreign currency amount. However, banks usually charge a commission, so assuming both accounts have bank statements, when you reconcile the statements you set the actual amounts. EasyBooks re-values foreign currency accounts into the business currency, and typically this amount will differ from the amount initially transferred. Any difference represents an unrealised gain or loss and will appear on your Profit and Loss report as well as your other financial reports.

Realised gains/losses

For some transactions there may be a gain or loss at the time of the transaction. For example, if a supplier invoices you in a foreign currency you can enter the purchase in that currency. The exchange rate is used to obtain a purchase value in the business currency to record in the expense account you select. When you later pay the invoice, any difference in exchange rate represents a realised gain/loss and is recorded in the "Exchange rate gains" account under Other Income.

Invoicing
  • Invoice customers in their own currency.
  • Receive payments and let EasyBooks keep track of any gains or losses resulting from exchange rate changes.
  • Prepare customer statements in their currency.
  • Supplier accounts also support foreign currencies in the same way: a supplier invoicing in a foreign currency can now be modelled in EasyBooks using their currency. You can enter purchase invoices and payments made in their currency.
  • When adding a payment transaction, you may know both the foreign currency amount and the value to you. In that case you can override the calculated amount by just overtyping. If you don't know the amount you can let EasyBooks fill in the amount based on the exchange rate in use.
Bank Accounts
  • Enter transactions in the currency of the account.
  • View the list of transactions in the account currency.
  • Reconcile bank statements in the account currency. For a transaction in a foreign currency, you can reconcile the currency amounts separately. For example, a transaction between a USD and GBP account can be reconciled in both accounts, and the amount can be edited to match that shown on the statement in each currency.
  • View exchange rate gains or losses in reports.
Financial Reporting
  • Unrealised gains and losses due to changes in exchange rates are displayed in reports when applicable.
  • Profit & Loss takes gains/losses into account when calculating profit.
  • Trial Balance converts all foreign currency amounts to the business currency.
  • Accounts by category displays amounts in account currency, converted amounts in the business currency and gains/losses for each account.
  • Transactions by account lists transactions in the currency of the account, showing the total debits, credits and balance.
  • Transactions by category lists transactions in each currency in use. The final balances show the balances in each currency.
  • Audit shows all accounts with transactions in the account currency and converted to the business currency.
  • Best Customers groups customers by currency, converting subtotal amounts into the business currency so you can easily compare customer sales and payments regardless of which currency was used.
  • Customer Aged Debt groups customers by currency showing the debt amounts in the customer currency with a subtotal showing the equivalent value in the business currency.
  • Supplier reports use the same format as customer reports (above).
Exchange Rate Data
  • Exchange rates are obtained automatically as required. For example, when entering a transaction or running a report over a date range.
  • View exchange rates that have been used by EasyBooks in the currency settings area.
  • Manually set or override exchange rates either per day or over a range of dates.
  • Historical exchange rate data is available from 2010.
  • The rates used in EasyBooks are mid-market rates (between the "buy" and "sell" rates).
Known issues when syncing with older versions of EasyBooks

Support for foreign currencies was added to EasyBooks in 2015. There are many copies of the app that have not been or will not be updated to the new version. Some devices are not capable of updating to the new version of the app, for example devices running an older version of the OS cannot usually update to the new version of EasyBooks. It is possible for these older versions to sync with the new version, but there are some known issues to bear in mind:

  • Older versions of EasyBooks will display statement balances for foreign accounts in the foreign currency but will display transaction values in business currency.
  • Older versions will not show unrealised exchange rate gains. Instead, the older version will show the transaction value in the business currency. The amounts shown in financial reports will not match because the older version lacks the ability to re-value the foreign currency accounts.
  • Editing a transaction on an older version of the app that contains a foreign currency will cause the foreign currency amount to be zeroed. It is recommended to only edit transactions in the business currency on the older versions of the app.