[GNC] Do I need to set up multiple bank accounts for different currencies?

[William Prescott]

I am neither an accountant nor particularly expert at GnuCash, though I've used it for a dozen years or so. But if I understand what you are saying it sounds crazy to me.

I have several bank accounts in USD and several in MXN. I have one account in Gnucash for each bank account and the currency is set to whatever currency is appropriate. Transactions generally occur with both sides in the same currency. The only exceptions are when I transfer money from a bank account in USD to a bank account in MXN or visa versa. Then the two sides of the transactions are in different currencies and GnuCash asks me about the conversion rate. Or when I use an ATM in one country to withdraw cash from a bank in another country. This happens mostly when traveling.

You certainly do not need to have multiple Gnucash accounts for a single bank account to deal with currency exchanges. Just set the Gnucash bank account to GBP and have expense accounts in the other currencies as needed. GnuCash will deal with transactions that involve two currencies.

Will

On Dec 22, 2022, at 09:56, Dr. David Kirkby <drkirkby at kirkbymicrowave.co.uk> wrote:

My Bank is a UK bank, but I sometimes buy things in $HKD, and fairly
regularly receive payments in USD and EUR in addition to the obvious GBP.
Should I set up accounts like this? (American's call them checking
accounts, but we don't here).

Assets: Current Assets: Bank Account (GBP)
Assets: Current Assets: Bank Account (USD)
Assets: Current Assets: Bank Account (EUR)
Assets: Current Assets: Bank Account (HKD)

It's the one bank account - I don't have different account numbers for
different currencies, and can't hold balances in anything other than GBP.

I initially assumed I needed 4 accounts for 4 currencies, but now I'm
wondering if I can avoid that complexity, given I can only have a balance
in GBP.

Dave
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