Alternate Currencies#

Overview#

You can use the invoice currency feature to bill projects in a foreign currency.

You can already store this currency when you set up a WBS for a project. Revenues are then shown in the invoice currency and in local currency. Sales documents that you create from the WBS, however, will show amounts in the invoice currency only.

As the name implies, invoice currencies are used not only on quotes and orders but on all sales documents created for a project, including invoices.

To provide sales estimates, a budget rate is used. Although specified on the project card, this rate might differ from one WBS version to another. However, the rate isn’t copied when you post a sales document. All Total Price (LCY) fields are instead recalculated based on the exchange rate available at the time.

You can change invoice currencies in the planning stage. You can no longer change currencies after project ledger entries have been posted.

Usage entries contain budgeted sales amounts in both local and invoice currencies. Sales entries, on the other hand, contain actual values only in the currency in which you want to bill the project. These are then converted into local currency when you post the entries.

One area where invoice currencies aren’t used is the project budget. All projects are planned in local currency—even if you intend to purchase goods from abroad. LCY is also the only currency used for cost control, that is, for charts of project accounts and dimension analyses, as amounts stated in another currency might make it extremely difficult to compare costs across projects.

On project cards#

As an example, you create a project from a template and select a customer you want to bill in Canadian dollars. You set the status to Open and pick a starting date.

The Invoice Currency Code field on the Project Billings tab is then filled in automatically based on the Bill-to field, if you selected a customer there, or a currency needs to be chosen manually from the Currency table.

Like on sales documents, you can now choose the Assist button next to the Invoice Currency Code field to modify the exchange rate for the project.

Alternatively, you can fill in the Invoice Currency Date field. This field was introduced because projects lack the type of fields, such as a Posting Date field, required to calculate exchange rates. If you enter a date in this field, the rate is determined based on what is stored in the Currency Exchange Rate table.

The rate shown on the project card is only a default value. It will later be copied to the WBS versions, where it can be modified if necessary.

For sales prices#

You can specify sales prices in several places throughout the app. Typically, these prices are given in local currency and are converted into a different currency if necessary. If you want to bill a project in a foreign currency for which no general prices are available, we recommend that you set up prices specific to a project.

To set up project-specific prices for resources, items, or G/L accounts:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Projects, and then choose the related link.
2. Open the relevant project card. On the ribbon, go to Related > Prices and choose Resource, Item, or G/L Account. The invoice currency you specify is then used as the default currency when you set up a new sales price.

For a WBS#

Each work breakdown structure contains the following fields on the Billing tab:

• Invoice Currency Code
• Invoice Currency Factor
• Invoice Currency Date

These fields match those shown on the project card considering their values are copied from there. Except for the invoice currency, the values can be changed in each WBS version so that you can calculate projects at different exchange rates across multiple versions.

On WBS lines#

You reopen the project card set up in our earlier example. On the ribbon, you choose Actions > Create WBS from Project Template.

You then see a message that says the project has an invoice currency and asks if you want to copy the currency from the project card. You choose Yes.

Afterward, you unhide the Invoice Currency Date and Invoice Currency Factor fields on the WBS lines. The contents of these fields are copied from the header. When a unit price is now calculated on a WBS line--that is, you didn’t select the Copy Budget checkbox, as you don’t want to use budget lines for detailed planning—the price will be converted in one of two ways:

• A price stored in local currency will be converted into the invoice currency.
• A price specified in the invoice currency, for example, in the Project Resource Price table, will be converted into local currency and entered in the Unit Price (LCY) field.

In our example, the system calculates a unit price (LCY) of EUR 70. This price is then converted into Canadian dollars by using the currency factor found on the WBS line.

After calculation, you use the Assist button next to the Invoice Currency Factor field on the Project Billings tab and enter a factor of 1.5 for the current WBS version.

You are then asked if you want the new factor to apply to all existing WBS lines and their budget lines (or only to new WBS lines). You are also informed that the change has no effect on existing sales documents. You choose Yes.

The factor is now applied to all WBS lines, and the unit price is recalculated in CAD.

On budget lines#

You can also enter invoice currencies on budget lines. The use of project-specific unit prices in this context has already been discussed earlier. Based on our previous example, you specify a price of CAD90 for resources of work type CONSULT and set up a budget line for a resource. The pricing functionality then calculates a price of CAD90 and converts this amount into local currency. Although the price was determined based on the currency factor stored on the related WBS line, you can still change the factor on the budget line. The following changes are also made on the budget line:

• The Unit Price (FCY) checkbox is selected. This means that the price calculated for sales is stored in the invoice currency and converted into LCY.
• The Fixed Project Price checkbox is selected, which indicates that a project resource price was used.

On sales documents#

As an example, you use the number of the project set up earlier to create a new sales order.

Customer data to fill in the sell-to and bill-to fields is then copied automatically. The invoice currency is also copied from the project. In our case, it’s the currency stored for the customer, although that’s not always true. Attempts to enter a different currency on the sales header will prompt an error message.

You then open the WBS. On the ribbon, you choose New > Create Sales Document. The status of the project must be set to Open. After the status has been verified for all WBS lines, the Create Sales Document function is run.

The system now checks if all WBS lines and budget lines—including all unit prices—are stored in Canadian dollars on the sales order.

The prices given in invoice currencies aren’t converted again when you create a sales document from a WBS. Instead, they are copied as they are to guarantee that manual prices are transferred over as well. The budget rate stored on the WBS is also copied to the document but can be updated there before you post an invoice.

The Unit Price (LCY) fields found on WBS and budget lines are only used to budget a project. These prices will be recalculated at the available exchange rate when you post a sales invoice and will then be copied to the sales project ledger entries.

For project ledger / usage entries and purchase documents#

At first look, invoice currencies have little in common with project usage. However, even project usage entries include unit prices for services that need to be invoiced. This helps determine what to:

• Include when measuring project progress.
• Use for billing time & materials projects not related to a sales order line.

For this reason, the fields described in the following table have been added to the project ledger entries.

Coming back to our earlier example, you now want to create a purchase invoice for an external resource. You create a purchase order for a vendor that bills in USD and purchase an external service, that is, a service rendered by an external resource.

As the purchase has been linked to a WBS line, the work type is already known to the system. This makes it easier to determine on the purchase line a budgeted unit price in the invoice currency stored for the project. In our case, the price comes to CAD140.

This price is then converted into local currency at the latest exchange rate—1.4962 in our example. The Unit Price (LCY) field now shows USD93.57. The rate entered on the budget line was 1.5, so the amount used to be USD93.33 only.

Before posting the purchase order, you alter the exchange rate to 1.3 in the Currency Exchange Rate table. You then post the order.

Whether you choose Post or Post and Print, the system creates a project usage entry in both cases. Variations in price between the receipt and the subsequent invoice only affect unit costs but not budgeted sales amounts.

A look at the project ledger entry created shows that usage is billed at the expected unit price of CAD140. At a 1.30 exchange rate, this works out to USD107.69—but that is irrelevant to billing, where the price is kept at CAD140.

In payment plans#

Like sales documents, payment plans are created based on the currency specified for a project.

Following on from our earlier example, you set up a payment plan for the entire project. This will copy the code from the Invoice Currency Code field on the project card to this payment plan, where it can no longer be changed.

On invoice suggestions#

If a payment plan is available, an invoice suggestion will include every payment plan line until all are posted as billed in full. Only when you create a final invoice to bill the entire project can you turn invoices based on a payment plan into credit memos.

For a suggestion, choose the Search icon, enter Invoice Suggestion, and then choose the related link. On the ribbon, choose Create Suggestion Lines.

You can set filters to limit the number of suggestions. For example, you can filter for a specific project.

Lines related to payment plans can only be copied to direct invoices.

1. Open the relevant invoice suggestion.
2. Select the Direct Invoice checkbox on the lines you want to bill.
3. On the ribbon, choose Actions > Create Invoice to create a partial invoice.

The invoice currency used for the relevant project is then included in both the suggestion and the direct invoice. The direct invoice also applies the current exchange rate to all amounts.