Create a manual transaction for a foreign currency bill

Here's how to create and explain a manual transaction for a bill in a different currency. If you're looking to explain a foreign currency bill transaction from a bank feed or uploaded statement, go here.

If you receive a foreign currency bill from a supplier and you don't have a bank account in that currency, you'll need to enter the money paid as a value in your business's native currency in FreeAgent. For UK customers, this is likely to be pounds sterling.

Entering payment for a foreign currency bill in your native currency

Navigate to the 'Banking' tab at the top of the screen and select 'Bank Accounts' from the drop-down menu.

Choose the relevant bank account from the list of accounts.

Then navigate to the ‘More’ button and select ‘Add Transaction’ from the drop-down menu.

If you're manually entering your bank transactions, you'll see on your bank statement how much you've paid in your native currency. When you're entering the bill payment, if you choose a bill in a foreign currency, FreeAgent will include the usual value box for the native currency amount. You'll need to make sure that the amount of your manual payment matches the amount on your bank statement.

FreeAgent also adds another box for the foreign currency value of this bill.

This is automatically populated with the value of the bill.

Part-payment of the bill

If you paid the bill in full, then you don’t need to make any changes.

If you have paid the bill in part, then you'll need to edit FreeAgent's figure with the amount of the foreign currency that you have paid.

What if the exchange rate has changed since I received the bill?

If the foreign currency exchange rate has changed since the bill date, FreeAgent will post an exchange gain or loss for you automatically, once you enter a payment against the bill.