Foreign Currency Transactions

Transactions between base currency account and base currency account are as trivial as transactions between foreign currency accounts of the same currency. The most complex process is how to move above the border.

An Example Transaction

The best way is to get a look onto a voucher I've got by changing some money. I beg your pardon for the bad quality but is was meant to be for private use only. That was no business money.

This voucher tells us: I have changed € 30.00 into £ 21.82. The exchange rate was 1.3752 and there was a fee of £ 2.50. I'm comming form Germany and so let us assume that the base currency of my accounting system is Euro.

In order to run this accounting problem properly open petra provides an account named "Internal Transfer" and the account number is 9800.

Let us assume that we have two accounts

1. 6000 Petty Cash Euro
2. 6001 Petty Cash British Pound

Then we have to create a batch containing an euro journal and a pound journal. Then we have to account:

1. 6000 Petty Cash € - Credit: € 30.00
2. 9800 Internal Transfer € - Debit: € 30.00

This moves the € 30.00 to the Transfer-Account and then

1. 9800 Internal Transfer € - Credit: £ 21.82
2. 6001 Petty Cash £ - Debit: £ 21.82

moves the "pound" to the £ Petty Chash Account.

The internal currency exchange rate differs form the exchange rate on the voucher and so there will be a "rest" on 9800. It is the task of the accounting personal to create a transaction which set this value to zero.