Multiple currencies problems

[Richard Wackerbarth]

On Sun, 16 Jul 2000, Blaise Bourdin wrote:

> It seems to me that only the bank and maybe stocks and mutual funds
> accounts really need to have a base currency. Am I wrong?

EVERY account is an inventory of something. Each inventory must have its own
count, cost, and value. The cost and value are expressed in a currency.
Therefore each account has a base currency.

Contrary to the popular impression, you cannot have two currencies in the same
ledger account. If I have a bank account in French Francs,  I cannot withdraw
100 Euros from that account. However, I can withdraw some number of Francs and
the bank has agreed to exchange those Francs for the Euros that I have
requested.