Foreign Currency Accounting

[Nikolai Onken]

Hey,

I am writing our own accounting software and we're about to expand
internationally.
I have several questions about how to deal with foreign currencies and
was wondering what literature I can have a look at to read about "best
practices"..
Currently we're writing and receiving bills in USD and EUR (probably
thats actually the most currencies we're using, but you never know..).
We can receive and pay bills in different currencies and several
payments to several accounts.
I would be glad if someone could point out books or online resources
about multi-currency accounting (the software implementation should be
selfexplaining then)..
Best wishes,

Nikolai Onken

[Des Perado]

I am not sure that writing your own Acctg Software is a great idea. There
are so many excellent Acctg software packages available today at reasonable
cost that it is difficult to justify writing your own. Anyway, my
suggestion would be to contact Sage Software at www.sage.com and get a demo
copy of their BusinessVision software product. It has an excellent
multi-currency module available as an add-on to their basic Accounting
program. You might find it is cheaper and far easier to simply purchase a
product like BusinessVision and get on with concentrating on making money in
your business instead of getting bogged down reinventing the wheel by
writing your own software. Sage Software also sells Simply Accounting
software which has Multi-Currency capabilities tho' not as sophisticated as
that in BusinessVision, but may be adequate for your needs. From looking at
how these software packages handle Multi-Currency, you should be able to see
what is involved and you can program your own system to do the same.

Whatever you decide to do, best of luck!
Des

Post by Nikolai Onken
Hey,
I am writing our own accounting software and we're about to expand
internationally.
I have several questions about how to deal with foreign currencies and
was wondering what literature I can have a look at to read about "best
practices"..
Currently we're writing and receiving bills in USD and EUR (probably
thats actually the most currencies we're using, but you never know..).
We can receive and pay bills in different currencies and several
payments to several accounts.
I would be glad if someone could point out books or online resources
about multi-currency accounting (the software implementation should be
selfexplaining then)..
Best wishes,
Nikolai Onken

.

[Nikolai Onken]

Hey Des,

thank you for the reply!
You are probably right about writing your own software but at this
point the effort to change system probably will be higher than
implementing multi currency since we handle several (online-) stores,
lease-/rentalprograms, affiliate programs, customer relation, business
analysis, etc. in the system and especially the lease rent program is
quite custom....
I'll try to have a look at some demos available and see how the
established software solutions handle the problem..
Best wishes,

Nikolai

Post by Des Perado
I am not sure that writing your own Acctg Software is a great idea. There
are so many excellent Acctg software packages available today at reasonable
cost that it is difficult to justify writing your own. Anyway, my
suggestion would be to contact Sage Software at www.sage.com and get a demo
copy of their BusinessVision software product. It has an excellent
multi-currency module available as an add-on to their basic Accounting
program. You might find it is cheaper and far easier to simply purchase a
product like BusinessVision and get on with concentrating on making money in
your business instead of getting bogged down reinventing the wheel by
writing your own software. Sage Software also sells Simply Accounting
software which has Multi-Currency capabilities tho' not as sophisticated as
that in BusinessVision, but may be adequate for your needs. From looking at
how these software packages handle Multi-Currency, you should be able to see
what is involved and you can program your own system to do the same.
Whatever you decide to do, best of luck!
Des

Post by Nikolai Onken
Hey,
I am writing our own accounting software and we're about to expand
internationally.
I have several questions about how to deal with foreign currencies and
was wondering what literature I can have a look at to read about "best
practices"..
Currently we're writing and receiving bills in USD and EUR (probably
thats actually the most currencies we're using, but you never know..).
We can receive and pay bills in different currencies and several
payments to several accounts.
I would be glad if someone could point out books or online resources
about multi-currency accounting (the software implementation should be
selfexplaining then)..
Best wishes,
Nikolai Onken

.