Multicurrency

CCH Trust Accounts includes a comprehensive Multicurrency accounting system. This functionality is a separately licensed option. Multicurrency is useful for offshore trusts and entities like pension schemes that have many overseas holdings. Multicurrency can be switched on just for those clients that need it. However, Multicurrency should not be used unless it is definitely needed as it makes Trust Accounts significantly more complicated.

The main facilities are as follows:

• Nominal accounts can be specified as Historic Rate or Closing Rate
• Any currency can be posted to any nominal account. However an account can be restricted just to postings in a single currency, e.g. for a USD bank account.
• The system will calculate the difference on exchange on closing rate accounts every time a trial balance or other report is run. There is no need to use a special recalculate option as in some systems.
• The system automatically generates intercurrency account postings. This means for example, that money can be transferred from a EUR bank account to a HKD account in a single entry. The debit is in HKD, the credit in EUR and the system supplies the intercurrency account postings.
• On the investment ledger each investment has designated capital and income currencies. You cannot post directly to the investment in any other currency.
• However you can buy or sell shares in a currency other than the capital currency as long as the investment control account posting is in the investment’s capital currency. Again the system supplies the necessary intercurrency account postings.
• When an investment is sold the profit is automatically split between the profit on disposal (due to share price movements) and the profit on exchange (due to exchange rate fluctuations). These can be reported on separately.