A guide to Foreign Trader

Information about Foreign Trader in Sage 50 Accounts, to enable you to trade in different currencies.

Foreign Trader lets you set up customers, suppliers, and bank records in multiple currencies. You can enter payments and receipts directly in those currencies and generate invoices, orders, and statements without manual conversions.

NOTE: The module is available in Sage 50 Accounts Professional and Client Manager. In other variants of Sage 50 Accounts, Foreign Trader is available as an add-on. If you're interesting in adding on the module, leave your details and we'll be in touch.

Select an option below for more information:

Activate and Set up Foreign Trader

1. Set up currencies.
2. Activate Foreign Trader in your software.

---

Start processing

Follow our Foreign Trader - posting foreign currency transactions article.

---

Post foreign currency bank transfers

Use our To post or reverse bank transfers between different currencies article to post or reverse transfers between the same or different currencies.

---

Revalue the foreign currency bank accounts

Follow our Foreign Bank Revaluation article.

---

Changes you can expect after enabling Foreign Trader

Changes to the customer record, supplier record, and new wizards

• If you create a new customer or supplier record, the default currency and credit limit is taken from the customer or supplier defaults. To check or amend these settings, open Settings > Customer Defaults or Supplier Defaults
• On the Details tab of the customer or supplier record, the Balance box displays the account balance in the base currency. The Activity tab shows the transactions and balance in the account's currency. To avoid confusion, the appropriate currency symbol is used
• When you enter opening balances via the Opening Balance (OB) option, you must enter the transactions using the appropriate exchange rate

 

Changes to the bank accounts and new wizard

• Bank records display the balance in their currency and the company's base currency. This is calculated using the foreign currency values on bank transactions
• Bank accounts display the base balance from the nominal ledger in the base currency, and the foreign balance in the bank's currency
• When you enter an opening balance using the Opening Balance (OB) option, you must enter the transactions using the appropriate exchange rate

Credit Charge Wizard

• You can't use the Credit Charge wizard for customers using a foreign currency. To post a credit charge to a customer's record, you must raise a batch invoice

Bank Recurring Entries

• You can't set up recurring entries for foreign currency bank accounts. You must post these manually

Bank Reconciliation

• The Bank Reconciliation window shows the transaction details for the bank account in the relevant currency
• If you process transactions using the Adjustment option, you can specify the exchange rate

Journals

• You can't post a journal to a foreign currency bank account
• If you need to reverse a journal that's posted automatically by Sage Accounts, such as a bank transfer, you must use the reversal option or post a reversing bank transfer

Global Changes Wizard

• You can't use the Global Changes wizard for customer or supplier records that use foreign currencies. Any changes to these records must be made manually

Contra Entries

• You can't post contra entries for foreign currency records. Any contra entries for these records must be posted manually

Fixed Asset Disposal Wizard

• You can't use a foreign currency bank account in the disposal of a fixed asset

Corrections

• If you amend a foreign currency transaction, you can only amend the following non-critical boxes: Reference, Description, Bank Rec on, Ex Ref and Rate

---