Multiple Currencies

In today’s expansive marketplace, it’s commonplace for companies to trade with companies in other countries. In relation to purchasing, the provision of goods or services by vendors from outside the company’s country of origin may mean that purchase orders have to be raised in additional currencies.

This has an impact on the expenditure calculations carried out by Purchase Control. One of Purchase Control’s key functions is to record all expenditure related to purchasing and more importantly to decide the validity or appropriateness of purchasing activity. To do this, the Purchase Control expenditure engine examines all purchasing activity, in real time, relative to predefined user and department-specific budgets and limits. Because all user and department related budgets are recorded in a base currency (the currency of the company’s financial records) the expenditure engine, in order to calculate expenditure across multiple currencies, must be capable of translating figure values in foreign currencies into base currency amounts. And so, the administration of a company’s multi-currency purchasing process involves the setup and administration of multiple currencies and their related exchange rates (relative to the base currency).

Working with currencies

Currency configuration activities are carried out using the administration screen in the admin console. Using the left-hand navigation panel, click the node titled “System Setup” to expand & display the Currencies option. The navigation should look something like the figure below.

Purchase Control will not automatically update the exchange rates between the different currencies in the system, this will have to be completed manually when you change the exchange rates you’ve set in your financial package.

To view current exchange rates we would recommend www.xe.com

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