Exchange rates on backdated dividends

[alpappy]

HI Mark
I am trying to enter a dividend from two months ago in USD ...my base currency is NZD
The dividend comes out as the same number of NZD as three months ago I have tried this on a number of other investments and get the same result
Surely when I enter a date from earlier FM should get the historical rate
I have updated all the historical rates on Yahoo server....no change?
thanks
alan

[Mark]

Hi Alan,

Do you mean the cash from an automatic default cash account entry is using an exchange rate of 1 when doing the conversion between USD and NZD? If so, check the following:

1) What is the currency of your investment where you're recording the dividend?
2) What is the currency of your default cash account?
3) Are you specifying an exchange rate when recording the transaction, or relying on the global exchange rate?
4) What exchange rate settings do you have between these currencies? See "Options / Currency Settings...".
5) If you're using the global exchange rate and an exchange rate investment, go look at the recorded closing price in that exchange rate investment on the date of your transaction. You do this in the Data Register under the Prices data type.

[alpappy]

HI Thanks for the reply The currency pairs are USD to NZD(home currency) and CHF to NZD
I am not using constant currency but global currency pairs Yet when I look at the exchange rate on the transaction and enter a date ...say two months ago the exchange rate does not change and the dividend in NZD is the same as it was even a year ago..That cannot be
I updated the historical rates and tried again it made no difference
What else can I try I can send a screen shot if you want to see what is going on
I had assumed if say I enter a dividend as 1st June 2020 today the rate would roll back to that date
The exchange rates work fine for purchases and sales
Alan

[Mark]

Hi Alan,

If you enter a transaction for June 1, 2020 and do not specify a transaction specific exchange rate, your global rate will be used. If you've assigned an exchange rate investment between the currency of this investment and your default cash account, the price in the exchange rate investment on this date will be used. So, you need to confirm all those settings, and then also look at the price in your exchange rate investment for this date. What price do you have in your "USD to NZD" investment for June 1, 2020? Do not just retrieve historical prices, instead, go look at what you actually have recorded. To do this, use the Data Register with the Prices data type.

[alpappy]

Hi I dont ever think I have assigned an exchange rate as I need it to float to get correct NZD rate How do I know if a rate is assigned and being used for an investment
Alan

[alpappy]

In summary FM will not jut look back to the date I enter and pick up the exchange rate on that date So I need to look it up each time in the transaction table and enter it
Seems like a lot of extra work
thanks
Alan

[Mark]

Hi Alan,

See "Options / Currency Settings...". Please also watch this tutorial on using multiple currencies.

FM will automatically use whatever exchange rate you have recorded for the date of the transaction. You can override this with a transaction specific exchange rate. Please see the tutorial, it should help explain how this works.

[alpappy]

HI when you say I have recorded it this from the exchange rate table
ie I enter dividend today but it was paid out ist june Does FM get rate from 1st june I show the paid date as ist june
will re look at video
it only came to my attention during covid where I have been waiting months for my mail so the transactions are months behind

[Mark]

The exchange rate used is for the date of the transaction itself, not the date you enter it. It doesn't matter on what date you enter it. Exchange rate investments track the historical exchange rate, so you can enter a transaction for any date, and the exchange rate on that date will be used (unless you override it with a transaction specific exchange rate).