Re: multi currency processing

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Posted by martin F on January 30, 2007 at 01:50:10:

In Reply to: Re: multi currency processing posted by Mark on January 29, 2007 at 16:12:29:

: : I am based in Canada, but have US Dollar, Swiss Franc, Euro, Sterling and other investments in my account.

: : Firsly, I cant figure out what currency code you use for swiss franc. Can you please suggest something?

: : I'd like to suggest that you introduce the ISO codes - for example USD for US Dollars, CAD for Canadian, GBP for sterling, CHF for swiss francs etc..

: : Secondly, for Canadian tax purposes, everything needs to be expressed back into Canadian dollars at the exchange rate at the time of the transaction. So when I buy shares in sterling I need to record the GBP/CAD exchange rate (from Bank of Canada web site) on that day. When I sell the shares I again have to record the GBP/CAD ex.rate on the day I sell. Thus, even though I might make no profit or loss in sterling, if the GBP/CAD exchange rate has moved from purchase date to sale date, I would end up with either a profit or loss.

: : Can you explain to me how I might record these exchange rates?

: : Finally, how can I reflect multiple cash balances, all in different currencies, but in the one brokerage account?

: : Thanks in anticipation

: Hi Martin,

: Please read this tutorial on handling multiple currencies:

: http://www.fundmanagersoftware.com/tutor_currency.html

: You define the currency codes yourself, under "Options / Currency Settings...". FM currently only allows a single character to represent a currency symbol, but you can make them anything you'd like.

: You can keep track of the daily exchange rates as you've described. You would want to set the Canadian dollar as your "default" currency, and then create exchange rate investments, that translate each currency to Canadian dollars. The above tutorial explains how to do this.

: Thanks,
: Mark
: --
: Fund Manager - Portfolio Management Software

Thanks Mark - but this is only a partial answer. Is there some way of capturing the Canadian dollar equivalent of a foreign investment - namely the purchase value expressed in CAD which is then stored on file, in Fund Manager. Lets say the next day I sell the investment for the same amount it cost me in local currency terms - however, lets say that the CAD has declined by 5%. Then from a Canadian tax perspective I have made 5% and it would be useful if Fund Manager would then be able to calculate a capital gain expressed in CAD. To do this, it would need a way of being able to store and the CAD equivalent at the time of purchase and the time of sale. The tutorial you showed me seems to generate a snapshot/report, but doesnt appear to store the CAD equivalent.

- Martin

Replies:

• Re: multi currency processing Mark 10:54:52 01/30/07 (0)