Account Currency

Finances lets you assign a currency to an account. The currency is then used for all postings for this account. This makes it easy to enter transactions in a different currency. That comes in handy when you are abroad and make purchases in a foreign currency.

Example

Lets say you’re visiting Vienna, where you make purchases in Euro. First you withdraw 200 Euro from your bank account in exchange for 240 US Dollar. In Finances you enter the following transaction.

12018-06-01 Withdrawal
2    Assets:Bank -$240
3    Assets:Cash  €200

Expense Account

During this trip you record all your expenses in the account Expenses:Holiday:Vienna. Because all postings for this account will be in Euro, you define Euro as the account currency. You can do that in the account info screen.

If you want you can use multiple sub-accounts to break down your expenses even further. For example you could use an account Expenses:Holiday:Vienna:Food for all food related purchases. But in this example we use only one expense account.

Cash Payment

If you buy something in Euro, like a Leberkäsesemmel, the transaction will look like this.

12018-06-02 Leberkäsesemmel
2    Assets:Cash             -€4
3    Expenses:Holiday:Vienna  €4

Finances not only shows the transaction amount of €4, but also the cash account balance of €196.

Tip: Use your iPhone to scan bills directly in Finances and attach them to transactions. Finances also recognizes QR-codes, which are printed on invoices in Austria.

Money Exchange

If you still have some Euros left after your trip, you can exchange them in US Dollars. For example you get 11 US Dollar for 10 Euro.

12018-06-30 Money exchange
2    Assets:Cash -€10
3    Assets:Cash  $11