To import foreign currency transactions into QuickBooks Desktop, turn on multicurrency in Preferences, then create a bank account set to the foreign currency, such as euros. Import only files whose amounts are in that same currency into that account. QuickBooks then keeps the euro amounts and values each line in your home currency at an exchange rate.
Turning on multicurrency in QuickBooks Desktop first
Multicurrency is the QuickBooks Desktop preference that lets accounts, customers and vendors carry a currency other than your home currency. Without it, every account is in the home currency, and a euro statement would be read as dollars. Turn it on under Edit > Preferences > Multiple Currencies, in the Company Preferences tab.
Back up and treat the change as lasting
Switching on multicurrency changes how the whole company file works, not just one account. Take a backup first, and treat the decision as one you will live with, because you should not count on being able to switch it off later. If only a handful of foreign payments happen each year, it may be simpler to record them in dollars at the amount your bank actually charged, and skip multicurrency altogether.
Who needs to be in the file
Changing a company preference is an administrator task, and a change this wide is best made with nobody else in the file. Pick a quiet moment, ask other users to close the file, and make the change before anyone starts entering work again.
Home currency stays as it is
Your home currency is the one the company reports in, usually the currency of the country where the business files taxes. Turning on multicurrency does not change it. Existing accounts, customers and vendors stay in the home currency. Only the accounts you deliberately create in another currency hold foreign amounts.
Setting the currency on a Desktop foreign currency bank account
Each foreign currency needs its own bank account in QuickBooks Desktop, with the currency chosen when the account is created. A euro account holds euros, a pound account holds pounds, and neither can hold the other. Set the currency in the New Account window, on the same screen as the account name and type.
Open Lists > Chart of Accounts, choose Account > New, pick Bank, and give the account a name that shows its currency, such as "Business Checking EUR (2281)". With multicurrency on, a currency field appears; choose Euro. Enter the opening balance in euros, as printed on the first statement you will import.
Get the currency right the first time
Choose the currency carefully before you save, and check it again before the first import. Once transactions sit in an account, changing its currency is not a step to plan around. If an account was created in the wrong currency, the reliable fix is a new account in the right currency, with the old one left empty and made inactive.
One account per currency, per bank account
If the bank gives you a multi-currency account with euro, pound and dollar balances under one account number, set up one QuickBooks account for each currency. Each currency gets its own statement or its own section on the statement, and each section imports into its own account.
Does the import file have to match the account's currency?
Yes. A Web Connect file imported into a QuickBooks Desktop account should hold amounts in that account's currency and no other. If a euro account receives a file of dollar figures, every amount is booked as euros, and the home currency values are then off by the exchange rate. One file per currency is the rule.
Intuit's page on fixing Web Connect import errors is clear that .qbo is the only file type Web Connect can read, so a foreign account follows the same route as a dollar account: download or create a .qbo file and import it through File > Utilities > Import > Web Connect Files.
What to check in the file before import
- Open the statement or file and confirm the currency printed at the top matches the QuickBooks account.
- Confirm the amounts look like that currency. A euro statement printed in a European format may use a comma as the decimal mark, so "1.250,00" means one thousand two hundred and fifty.
- Check that the opening balance on the first statement equals the opening balance you entered in the account.
- Make sure the file holds only one currency section of a multi-currency statement.
Statements with a column of converted values
Some banks print a foreign statement with an extra column showing each line's value in dollars. That column is for your information. Import the foreign amounts only, and let QuickBooks work out the dollar value with its own rate. Importing the dollar column into a euro account books dollar figures as euros, the same currency mismatch in a different disguise.
How does Desktop value foreign amounts in home currency?
QuickBooks Desktop stores each foreign transaction in its own currency and also records an exchange rate, which converts it to the home currency for reports. The euro balance of the account stays exact. The dollar value moves with rates, and the Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet show the dollar figures.
A worked example of four euro lines
The figures below are an example. The rates are made up for illustration and are not real market rates.
| Date | Description | Amount (EUR) | Example rate (USD per EUR) | Home value (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2 | Opening balance | 5,000.00 | 1.0800 | 5,400.00 |
| Apr 9 | Payment from Example GmbH | 1,250.00 | 1.0850 | 1,356.25 |
| Apr 15 | Example Office Rent Berlin | -900.00 | 1.0790 | -971.10 |
| Apr 28 | Bank charge | -12.50 | 1.0810 | -13.51 |
The euro balance at the end of April is 5,337.50, exactly what the bank statement shows. The dollar column adds up to 5,771.64, but that figure depends on the rates used and does not equal 5,337.50 at any one of the four rates in the table. That is expected. Reconcile the account in euros, against the euro statement.
Where to check the rate
When you review or open an imported foreign line, look at the exchange rate field on the transaction. QuickBooks fills it in from the rates it holds, and you can type over it if your bank or your accountant uses a different rate. Agree a policy with whoever prepares your returns, such as the bank's own rate or a published daily rate, and apply it the same way every month.
Gains and losses from rate changes
When a foreign balance is held while rates move, its dollar value changes even though no euros came in or went out. That change is a currency gain or loss. It is an accounting adjustment, not an imported transaction, so leave it to month-end or year-end work with your accountant rather than trying to bring it in from the bank file.
Foreign card purchases on a home currency account in Desktop
A purchase made abroad on a dollar card or dollar bank account is not a foreign currency transaction for QuickBooks Desktop. The bank converts it before it reaches the statement, and the line arrives as a dollar amount. Import it into the dollar account as normal, with no multicurrency set-up needed.
The statement may print the original amount, for example "EUR 48.00", in the description. That text is for reference. The amount that left the account is the dollar figure, and that is the one to import. A separate foreign transaction fee often follows on its own line, and it belongs in a bank charges expense account.
When multicurrency is not worth it
If all of your foreign activity happens on dollar accounts, multicurrency adds nothing, because every line already arrives in dollars. Turning it on only matters when you hold money in another currency, or invoice and pay customers and vendors in that currency and want their balances tracked in it.
A foreign currency file imported into the wrong Desktop account
When a file in one currency lands in an account of another currency, every line in that import is wrong by the exchange rate, and the import cannot be reversed. Intuit's guide to importing and exporting data in QuickBooks Desktop states you cannot undo an import, so recovery means a restore or a manual clean-up.
Restore if you can
If you backed up just before the import, restore that backup. Nothing else is as clean. Then relink the bank file to the correct account and import again.
Clean up by hand if you must
Without a recent backup, list the import's lines with a register report filtered to the import date, and delete them from the wrong account. Then import the file into the right account. Keep a copy of the list, so you can confirm every line was removed and nothing else was touched. Before you start, exporting the bank register from QuickBooks Desktop to Excel gives you a snapshot of the account to compare against afterwards.
If the file is a PDF only
Some foreign banks offer no QuickBooks download, only a PDF statement. Then the lines either have to be converted into a .qbo file or typed in. For a short month, typing works, and manually adding bank transactions to QuickBooks Desktop shows the register entry. SimpleBankConvert is being built mainly for US bank and card PDFs, so check with us by email before relying on it for a foreign statement.
Planning further ahead
If you are reviewing how Desktop fits the business at all, the QuickBooks Desktop sunset and what it means for bank imports covers the bank side of that decision. If a client keeps a foreign account in Xero instead, the typical reasons a statement upload fails there are in Xero bank statement import failed.