We released the first set of multi-currency features into Saasu on the 1st of May for preview by partners and customers. Some changes will occur before the release goes live next week. Let us know if you have any feedback.
The top 3 multi-currency features you asked to be added to our online accounting engine were:
- Run and operate Foreign Currency Accounts.
- Create Sales and Purchases in a foreign currency and apply payment in your base currency.
- Create Sales and Purchases in a foreign currency and apply payment in a foreign currency.
Would it be possible to have a function that accounts the difference(loss or gain) when the ATO June 30 rate is known?
Tks and regards
Zheng
Comment by Zhenghong Tian — May 7, 2009 @ 7:00 am
Hi Zheng, Yes we will be providing a default/override rate. You won’t see that in the first version screens but we have the capability to do that built in behind the scenes.
Comment by Marc — May 7, 2009 @ 10:30 pm
Based on the extract of the screen , it appears that the FX rate is input at the time of, for instance, adding a purchase. Does this mean that the FX rate will be static following entry?
Perhaps if I explain what I need Saasu to do, and you can tell me whether Saasu accommodates that need.
The business I am involved with currently operates in AED (Arab Emirate Dirhams). However my equity contributions are usually in AUD. My partners’ equity contributions are often in USD or GBP.
Once the business is in a position to return all equity contributions to the partners, the amount returned must be the equivalent of the foreign currency amount initially contributed. For instance, let’s say I made a contribution on 1 Jan 2009 of AUD 100, which on that date equated to AED 300. After the 1 Jan 09, the business balance sheet and equity position needs to reflect the true liability or equity of the day, which will be whatever the AED equivalent is of AUD 100. Because AUD 100 is what is owed to me. So this might be AED 250 on 31 Mar 09, and it could be 350 31 Dec 09.
So will Saasu be able to automatically show an accurate balance sheet each day as currency exchange rates fluctuate?
Cheers
Steven Knowles
Comment by Steven Knowles — May 11, 2009 @ 8:58 am
I’m very excited at what i’ve seen so far (and this may be a sad indictment on me rather than on what you have done) as it will reduce my workload quite a bit.
Just some suggestions:-
1) ALPHA MODE – To differentiate the alpha mode from the normal mode could i suggest that you put “Alpha Mode” next to the company name? the only way of differentiating the two is by looking at the address line. I do appreciate that if you have logged into the alpha mode you should know that you’re in alpha mode and won’t put real transaction in the alpha mode. However in a busy office it is easy to get distracted (since most people work on multiple things at once) and when an operator comes back to Saasu, they might not realise / forget they are in alpha mode and start entering real transactions.
2) FOREIGN CURRENCY – It seems you have set up the system where 1 Foreign Currency (FC) equal a variable Local Currency (LC). This is confusing as most foreign exchange rate reports have 1 LC equal a variable FC. While it doesn’t take much to do the conversion for the figure to be put into Saasu, I find it’s just one extra little job that adds to my work load.
Eg CBA foreign exchange rate daily report http://www.commbank.com.au/guides/personal/other/foreignexchangerates.asp
3) FOREIGN CURRENCY – Being able to enter payment / receipt at the same time as entering the purchase / sale is a brilliant capability of Saasu. However for FX, if you record payment at the same time as entering the Sales / purchase then it doesn’t take into account a different FC on receipt / payment. This is only important if a person is entering a backlog of transactions or when the FX rate is the same for the date of sales / purchase as the receipt / payment dates.
4) FOREIGN CURRENCY – i see that the program automatically generates a FX Gain / Loss account.
i) Will it automatically change where is it recognised in the P&L based on whether its a gain or loss?
ii) At the moment I’ve created my own FX Gain / Loss account for these transactions – will I be able to transfer all existing gains / losses to your new account and delete my own. I realise that it is possible to make my account inactive, but I would rather delete it all together. This is a personal thing for as an accountant i do like things neat and tidy and having two accounts the same in the Chart of Accounts is just annoying (although I can live with it). As i’ve said this is a personal thing as I realise you can’t be everything to everyone.
Comment by John — May 19, 2009 @ 12:22 am
Another (small) point is that all foreign currency transactions have a bank fee attached with it whether you receive or spend money (the banks always receive their cut). At the moment I’m entering the fee as a separate transaction (in purchases) but maybe you could design something that includes this in the payment section of both Sales & Purchases.
I suppose the choice in design would be either:
i) enter the amount received, the bank fee and these are added together to be applied against the Sale / Purchase or
ii) enter the amount to be applied, the bank fee and these together balance to the bank statement.
Comment by John — May 19, 2009 @ 1:02 am
Should we be able to see the multicurrency features yet? I can’t see the above new features in the usual add purchase screen.
Comment by Rod — May 19, 2009 @ 6:02 am
Thanks for all the feedback. We are making some changes after review by customers. Working on some efficiency/usability ideas to avoid old-school approach of a pop-up FX rate/feed selector.
Yes you will be able to capture FX amounts/rates at time of transaction and at payment date for all those people asking
Hoping to release live soon. Sorry for the delay but a little more time put in now will make the result a lot better for all in the long run.
Comment by Marc — May 20, 2009 @ 12:05 am
I have been looking at the reports and found the following errors.
DATA USED IN THE EXAMPLE
Entered a Sale of $150 USD at a rate of $1USD = $1.28 AUD ($192.00 AUD)
Entered a part payment a few days later of $90 USD at a rate of $1USD = $1.30 AUD
This gives a realised FX gain of $1.80 and leaves an unpaid amount of $50USD.
Gave a unique tag to the sales invoice.
RESULTS
In the P&L (Cash) Report – it showed Income as $90 USD and not $ 117.00 AUD (made up of Sales income of $115.20 and FX Gain of $1.80 – each of these should be shown separately)
In the P&L (Accrual) Report – it correctly showed $192 AUD and the $1.80 FX Gain
However these results only occur if “All Tags” were chosen. If I filter by the unique tag, then the P&L (Accrual) Report did not list the FX Gain (i believe it should) and the P&L (Cash) report showed the same as above.
Also i have noticed that the FX rate (in relation to the sales invoice and so might be the same for purchases) can’t be changed once the invoice has been posted. I can think of a number of situations where the FX rate might not be available at the time of entering the transaction and a ‘proxy’ rate would be used just “to get the transaction in the system” with it being expected that the real rate be entered later. Could this field be always adjustable?
Comment by John — May 26, 2009 @ 5:58 am
Help! I just saw your list of supported currencies, and am panicking at the absence of AED (United Arab Dirhams). I’ve just spent days inputting data in anticipation of saasu’s support for multi currency, assuming all would be supported. Can AED be supported please?
Many thanks
Comment by Steven Knowles — May 26, 2009 @ 6:38 pm
Oops – AED probably stands for Arab Emirate Dirhams. Anyway, the Dirhams used in the UAE.
Cheers
Steven Knowles
Comment by Steven Knowles — May 26, 2009 @ 6:39 pm
One more issue. Would the new version be able to handle foreign currency bank accounts? On a given date or point in time would it be possible to have the say “Financial Overview” showing accurate AUD equivalent? and also showing with each foreign currency accounts the correct balance in AUD or at least the original currency?
Many thanks for your kind attention.
Cheers
Zheng
Comment by Zhenghong Tian — June 7, 2009 @ 3:43 am
Hi,
We are considering using Saasu, and are interested in the multi currency options.
1. When do you expect the features to be available for everyone to use?
2. Will your APIs also be updated with support for multi currency capabilities?
Thanks.
Comment by James Collins — June 15, 2009 @ 1:44 am