Accounts in multiple currencies

[Ian Lewis]

2008/10/22 Nathan Watson-Haigh <nathan at watsonhaigh.net>

> All this begs the questions:
> "Is this a short-coming of GNUCash or just the complexity of handling
> multiple currencies? Why does GNUCash need to handle multiple currency
> accounts" i.e. what situation really need to have it handle multiple
> currencies?


This is a problem inherent with dealing with multiple currencies. Dealing
with different currencies pretty much means dealing with different accounts.
The units are simply different and for reporting (tax etc.) purposes it
doesn't make much sense to exchange currencies in accounting software unless
you are actually exchanging currencies. Dealing with exchange rates etc. for
transactions that weren't really currency exchanges quickly becomes a pain.

After moving to Japan from the U.S. I created a whole separate account tree
with expenses, assets etc. in Yen. That has worked pretty well for me.

Ian