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Multi Currency

Using Multi Currency to invoice international currencies

Updated over a week ago

Multi currency

Multi currency allows you to work across borders, internationally and to invoice in currencies other than your organisation’s base currency. This feature is only available in Synergy Enterprise.

Why use Multi currency?

We understand that it is quite common for organisations to operate globally. The Multi currency feature takes the headache out of converting payments paid in a foreign currency into your organisation’s base currency.

Actions available

Add a new currency

You will first need to add a currency to your organisation if you intend to invoice in a currency other than your base currency.

[Orgnization menu > Settings > Financial > Currency]

Click Add Currency, then type the currency code in the field or use the autocomplete function by typing in a part of the search term. Click Save to have this currency available when you create a new project.

When you choose a currency for a project, the project is invoiced in this currency.

Removing a currency If you no longer transact in a specific foreign currency, you can deactivate this in the system by unchecking the Active row. You can not deactivate the default organisation currency.

Project details

All transactions and expenses are recorded in the organisation’s default currency and then converted to the nominated foreign currency at the time of invoicing.

1) Choose the project currency from the Currency drop-down.

Note: If you only have the base organisation currency listed, you will not see the currency field.

2) Click on the pencil to update the currency.

3) Choose if the exchange rate is to be at a fixed or variable rate. Any foreign exchange variances at the time of invoicing are handled in the accounting package.

  • Fixed - nominate the exchange rate at the beginning (most likely this is specified in the contract). This rate is used when converting the project amount at the time of invoicing.

  • Variable - when you use variable, your accounting package will invoice your organisation’s base rate at the exchange rate set at the time of invoicing. You can click on the Currency conversion link to take you to XE to see the current exchange rate.

4) Proceed to fill out your project details.

Note: If you have already invoiced of your project a currency, you can not invoice in a different currency.

Bookmarks and templates

When working in Multi currency, you need to first create a new template using the foreign currency bookmarks on all your related Synergy documents, for example:

  • Proposal document

  • Project statement

  • Invoice summary

  • Credit note summary

  • Credit note with stage breakdown

  • Invoice cancellation

The easiest way to do this is to create a copy of the document you want to invoice in a foreign currency and replace the existing bookmarks with the new foreign currency bookmarks.

There are over 100 foreign currency bookmarks you can use. These are clearly marked with ‘foreign currency’.

[Organization menu > Settings > Templates > Document]

Creating an invoice in a foreign currency

Once all your transactions (timesheets, WIP, expenses, travel, disbursements) are finalized, you can create an invoice to show the converted foreign currency amount.

  • If previewed at this point, it will show in base currency.

  • Click on the ellipsis and go to Switch layout.

  • The dialog shows all the different invoice templates.

  • Select the invoice you created with the foreign bookmarks.

[Organization menu > Invoices]

Cancellations and credits

In the same way, you can create a foreign currency invoice, you can also cancel and credit amounts in a foreign currency.

Reporting

Like document templates, you will need to add your foreign currency columns to your reports. The foreign currency report columns are identifiable by ‘foreign currency’ at the end.

E.g. if you want to show a project report to show what projects are in what currency, you can add the Project currency column to your Project – List. This will show your base and your foreign currency amounts.

Receiving payment in a foreign currency

Synergy does not accept foreign currency payments. Everything needs to go through an accounting package (QBO, Xero).

  1. Send the invoice to Xero or QBO.

  2. When your accounts receivable receives this payment, they will mark it in Xero or QBO.

  3. The next time your accounting package is synced, the invoice will show as paid in Synergy.

Portals

You can send your foreign currency invoices to contacts using portals.

When your contact logs into the portal, they will see the currency symbol when previewing the document in the portal and also in the attached invoice.

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