Sage Intacct offers the following options for Multi-Entity, Muti-Currency enabled environments.  It’s important to determine which category a client falls under before choosing one over the other.

1. Multi-Currency, SINGLE Base Currency

  • Each entity can transact with multiple currencies
  • All entities will share a single base currency/reporting currency

2. Multi-Currency, MULTI-Base (functional) Currencies

  • Every report will consider the base currencies of the entities in the report
  • Keep in mind that with Sage Intacct Global Consolidation, you can only report across entities that have an identical base currency.
          1. If entities have different base currencies and you want to consolidate/report across entities, may need to purchase multi-currency AND Intacct Global Consolidation.
          2. IGC requires Multi-Currency (GL Configuration) and Multi-Base (Multi-entity Configuration).

Biggest questions to ask yourself:

1.       How many entities?  Is there more than one base currency (functional currency) for reporting?

  •  If no, then probably dealing with a multi-entity, but single base currency setup using multiple currencies in the transactions
  • If yes, then you will need to explore further consolidation and reporting needs (potentially Intacct Global consolidation).

2.       Even with a single base, we need to know which transactions are done in more than one currency?

  • This is a per entity question
  • Is setup necessary for both Customers and Vendors?

                                                               i.      Does client need to receive/pay in foreign currency?

                                                             ii.      Does client need to invoice/bill in foreign currency?

3.       Does client have foreign currency bank accounts?

  • If so, how are funds transferred between accounts?
  • Which entity owns what bank?
  • Are there inter-entity implications here? Changes to inter-entity JEs with multiple bases coming in next release

4.       Are there any historical balance sheet accounts where you want the foreign currency to be represented?

  • Consideration for Employee Expenses

                                                               i.      What currencies will be used here?

                                                             ii.      What currencies will be used for reimbursement?

Terminology to Know

Intacct Daily Rate: This rate is automatically pulled into Intacct from OANDA.  There is an option for 1 Day Prior Rate for time zones far removed from UTC -3.

Realized Gain/Loss: Effect of currency fluctuation for settled (closed) transactions.  Posted to the P&L and reported in the net income section of a financial report.

Unrealized Gain/Loss: Used for unsettled (open) transactions.  Posted to the Balance Sheet and reported in the shareholder equity section of a financial report.

If you would like to learn more about the capabilities of Sage Intacct, visit our Sage Intacct Overview page.