Currency Conversion

The currency conversion feature allows you to convert all monetary amounts on an invoice (product prices, shipping charges, totals, etc.) into another currency.

To reach the Currency Conversion dialog box, select INVOICE TOOLS >> CURRENCY CONVERSION from the Menu Bar on top of the Main Invoice Screen. The following dialog box appears:

The "Currency Conversion" dialog box allows you to indicate which currencies you work with and their rates. To help you get started, the program comes with several sample currencies. When you are ready to enter your own, just delete or overwrite them with the currencies you will be using in your business.

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This feature (the Currency Conversion dialog box) is one way. When you use this feature, you'll be primarily working in what's called the base currency. That's your regular currency that you use on day to day basis. Your base currency (and it's symbol) is entered here: Basic Program Set-up. Most of the invoices that you issue will probably be in the base currency, but when you need to issue an invoice in another currency then you'll use the "Currency Conversion" feature.

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There's another option if you have the networked version of Level 5 or greater. Levels 5 or greater include the Rover Module. The Rover Module is installed as a separate program that looks and works just like the main AnyOrder program. You can use the Rover Module and work solely in a different monetary unit. Other Rover Modules can be set-up for other monetary units. Periodically, you can move the data from Rover (which is in a different currency) to the main program (which is in your base currency). Rover will automatically convert the amounts to your base currency. This feature allows you to have all of your data together for sales reports, yet, at the same time, keep a separate set of records in one or more alternative currencies. More information: Rover.

The following information, to the end of the page, is about the first method, the Currency Conversion dialog box:

Up-to-date currency rates are available at many websites on the Internet. If you are dealing in international currencies you probably already have a site where you obtain this information. If not, it just a matter of doing a search for "Currency Exchange Rates" and you'll turn up plenty of organizations and businesses which make this information available at no cost. You may or may not use the rates at their face value. Depending on your company's policy, you may add a percentage to the rate to compensate for the extra expense involved in dealing with another currency. Or you may use an average rate to minimize frequent updates of the AnyOrder's Currency Rate Table.

Exchange rate tables on the Internet may show two types of rates: "exchange rate" and "converted amount." AnyOrder works with the more common "exchange rate." Use the "exchange rate" when entering rates into AnyOrder's Currency Table.

Use the Currency Table in the middle of the dialog box to enter the monetary symbol, three-letter ISO abbreviation, full name of currency and exchange rate. If you don't have the appropriate monetary symbol or are unsure, use the generic symbol: ¤

The ISO abbreviation is a standardized way to referring to the currencies of the world. Some examples are:

These are just a few examples. Every country has their own code, and it isn't hard to find a country's abbreviation. Most exchange rate tables list the country's ISO abbreviation along with the latest rate. The ISO abbreviation is very important in AnyOrder. When you convert an invoice to another currency, all printed and electronic invoices will show the three letter abbreviation along with the full name of the currency. This is done to make sure there is no mistake which currency is being used.

Once you've filled in the Currency Rate Table, you can convert an invoice to the new currency. First make sure the invoice you want to convert is showing on the Main Invoice Screen. Open the Currency Conversation dialog box. Place your cursor in the row of the desired currency in the table and click the 'Convert Invoice' Button. All amounts on the invoice will be converted to the selected currency.

If you need to add a shipping amount, a customer payment, make corrections to the invoice--or if you need to change an exchange rate--use the following procedure:

1. Convert the invoice back to your base currency (by clicking the 'Return to Base Currency' button).

2. Make the necessary corrections or additions while the invoice is in your base currency.

Once you print the invoice (and/or record payments), it's highly recommended that you convert the invoice back to your base currency by clicking "Return to Base Currency." All invoices must be in the base currency for producing sales, billing, and inventory reports.

To aid you in converting back and forth, AnyOrder will remember the exchange rate. It saves the rate in the Notes area on the Main Invoice Screen. It's placed in curly brackets and hyphens and looks like: {-{GBP1.5463}-}. Be sure not to delete this notation or delete a bracket or hyphen. AnyOrder needs this information for the conversation process.

When AnyOrder converts an invoice back to the base rate, it uses one of two methods. When an exchange rate is less than one (1.0), AnyOrder simply reverses the conversion process to arrive at the base currency. However, if the exchange rate is over one (1.0), AnyOrder has to take a different approach. The reason for this is that the program can't reverse the process without losing accuracy. The higher the number is over 1.0, the more accuracy is lost.

To prevent loss of accuracy, AnyOrder saves the base prices of the products, shipping expense, etc. in the Notes area along with the conversion rate. It's contained within curly and square brackets and looks like: {[89.00/0.00/<>0.00/0.00/0.00/0.00/]}. As with the exchange rate, be sure not to delete or alter the notation.

Exchange rates change, and the rates in AnyOrder's Currency Table will need to be updated from time to time. Even though the rates on the table will be changing, you can, if desired, return an invoice to the original rate used when it was first created and sent to the customer. AnyOrder saves the original rate in the Notes area. If an invoice is in the base rate, and you need to see the original conversion values, you can do so by clicking on the "Use Old Rate" button.